
Class. 
Book. 



^Z 



Gopyriglit^i 



0OFSRIGHT DEFOSm 



AMERICAN HERO 
STORIES 



BY 



EVA MARCH TAPPA^N^, Ph.D. 

Formerly of the English Department, English High School, 

Worcester, 3fass. Author of " England's Story,'' " Our 

Country's Story," " Old Ballads in Prose," 

^'■In the Days of Alfred the Oreat," etc. 




BOSTON, NEW YORK, CHICAGO 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

1906 



^n'^ 

rn 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDies Received 

APR 7 1906 

Copyriffht Entry 

t CLASS 'Vi i\C, No, 
ij^^ Q> (of 
' COPY B. 



COPYRIGHT 1906 BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



PREFACE 

^■p^HIS volume contains five accounts of voyagers and explorers, 
I ranging from Columbus to Lewis and Clark ; stories of five 
colonies of marked dissimilarity — Virginia, Quebec, Plymouth, 
New York, and Philadelphia ; brief lives of four pioneers of the 
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ; and fifteen short stories 
of war times. In treating of our wars, it seemed wisest not to 
attempt any formal explanation of causes and results, but rather 
to picture a number of separate and interesting achievements, 
choosing as far as possible actions that have distinct heroes. The 
chapters are arranged in chronological order, with a thread of 
continuity running through them. The aim of the book is to in- 
troduce in informal and friendly fashion some of the makers of 
American history, and to provide a simple, broad foundation for 
future study of history and biography. 

Acknowledgments are due to the courtesy of the following for 
permission to use their material for illustrations : to The Title 
Guarantee and Trust Co. of New York for New Amsterdam in 
Stuyvesant''s Time ; to the Historical Society of Michigan for 
Gladwyn^s Warning from the Indian Girl ; to Mr. Charles E. Good- 
speed for Washington at the Delaware; to McClure's Magazine for 
portrait of Daniel Boone ; to the New England Magazine for The 
Indian Woman who Guided Lewis and Clark and the Seal of the 
Levns and ClarJc Exposition ; to The Outing Magazine for The 
Marriage and The March of David Crockett. 

Eva March Tappan. 
Worcester, Massachusetts, 
January 1, 1906. 



»< 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Columbus, Who Fiest Crossed the Atlantic Ocean . 1 'h 
Ferdinand Magellan, Who Found the Way around the 

World 14 

Francis Drake, Seaman of Queen Elizabeth ... 24 

John Smith, the Father of Virginia . . ... 38 

Samuel de Champlain, the Founder of Quebec . . 49 

Miles Standish, Commander-in-Chief of the Pilgrims 59 

Peter Stuyvesant, Last Dutch Governor of New York 73 

King Philip, Chief of the Wampanoags ... 84 

The Men Who Explored the Mississippi .... 96 

William Penn, Who Founded Pennsylvania . . . 108 

George Washington, the Young Soldier .... 117 

James Wolfe, Who Captured Quebec .... 126 

When Pontiac Besieged Detroit 135 

The First Day of the Revolution . . . . ;^3 

Israel Putnam, Soldier of the Revolution . . . 151 

A Christmas Surprise 158 

A Winter at Valley Forge 165 

How "Mad Anthony" Took Stony Point . . . 178 

How the "Swamp Fox" Made the British Miserabi^*". 179 
George Rogers Clark, Who Gave Three States to the 

Union 185 

John Paul Jones and his Sea Fights for America . 193 



vi CONTENTS 

Daniel Boone, the Kentucky Pioneer .... 200 
Meriwethek Lewis and William Clark, Who Showed the 

Way to the Pacific 207 

Oliver Hazard Perry, Who Captured a British Fleet 218 

Dolly Madison, Who Guarded the Nation's Treasures . 224 

The Star-Spangled Banner . , , .• . . 231 

David Crockett, the Tennessee Pioneer .... 237 

Christopher Carson, Trapper and Guide . . . 246 

Abraham Lincoln, Pioneer and President . , . 254 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 
WHO FIRST CROSSED THE ATLANTIC OCEAN 

A LITTLE boy once lived in Genoa, Italy, whose 
earliest memory was the " Boom, boom ! " of his 
father's shuttle. The father was a wool comber and 
weaver, and all the near neighbors were weaA^ers. 
When the boy went to school he studied and played 
with the children of weavers; and when he went to 
church he knelt before an altar that belonged specially 
to the weavei'S. He would probably have become a 
weaver himself if Genoa had not been a seashore town. 
The wharves were not far from his home; and even 
when he went to walk on the hills back of the city, 
he could not help seeing the white-sailed ships coming 
and going. When he was fourteen, he sailed away on 
one of them, and for fourteen years he went on one 
voyage after another. Between the voyages he helped 
his father comb wool and weave. 

Genoa was full of sailor boys. jSTo one knew that this 
boy would become a famous man, and so no one wrote 
any account of his boyhood. Almost the onh^ thing we 
know about his early years is that he managed somehow 
to learn a great many things. He learned how to sail a 
ship by watching the moon and stars and using the 



2 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

instruments that sailors then had. He learned all that 
was known about g-eography. He learned to draw beau- 
tiful maps and sea-charts. Some of these maps were 
different from those of to-day. When he drew a map 
of Europe, for instance, he put the Atlantic Ocean west 
of the Continent, and Asia west of the Atlantic. Eurojje 
in those days was buying spices, silks, and many other 
things from China and eastern Asia; but bringing them 
overland by caravans was very expensive. " AVhy can- 
not we cross the Atlantic," Columbus said to himself, 
" and so go directly to China ? " 

There were several reasons why people thought this 
could not be done. A few believed that the earth was 
a sphere and could be sailed around. But some said 
the Atlantic was full of monsters and demons, and 
others thought that the water at the equator was boiling 
hot. Columbus was not troubled by any of these fears, 
but he had no money to provide ships and men for such 
a voyage. In those days Portugal was a great sea 
power, so he appealed to the Portuguese king. " If you 
will give me ships and men," he said, " I will cross the 
Atlantic. Then you can trade directly with the great 
cities of China and Jajjan, and Portugal will become the 
richest country in Europe." He gave all his reasons 
for believing that this could be done, and King John 
agreed to lay the matter before four learned men. These 
men rejolied, " It is a wild and foolish scheme." But 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



one of them added, " If there is any truth in it, why 
shonld we let this foreigner have all the glory? Let us 



a^ceanicai 




CARAVEL OF THE TIME OF COLUMBUS 
From the Latin letter of Columbus printed in 1493 

keep him waiting awhile and send out one of our 
own sailors." So a ship was sent out secretly; but a 
storm arose, and in a few days it came back. " No one 



4 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

can ever cross the Atlantic," declared the frightened 
cajDtain. 

Columbus heard of the trick and was indig-nant. " I 
will go to the sovereigns of Spain," he said to himself; 
and he set off on foot to cross the mountains. Some 
time before this he had married, and his wife had died, 
leaving him a little boy, Diego, who w as now about six 
years old. Diego walked until he was tired, then his 
father carried him, and so they journeyed into Spain. 
Diego was left with his aunt, and Columbus made an 
appeal to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. The 
queen liked Columbus and was interested in his plans; 
but when she asked the opinion of her learned council- 
ors, they said, as the council in Portugal had said, " It 
is a wild and foolish scheme." The queen was not con- 
vinced, but the kingdom was at war and there was little 
money to spare for expeditions. So, after seven years of 
waiting, Columbus took Diego and set off for France. 

Before they had walked far, the boy was hungry, and 
his father rang the bell of the convent of La Ral:)ida. 
" Will you give me some bread foi- my son ? " he asked. 
" Yes, surely," replied the monks. " Bring the boy in 
and let him rest." One of these monks, called Brother 
Antonio, noticed that Columbus was no common beggar, 
and they had a long talk together. Brother Antonio 
was almost as much interested in geography and asti'o- 
nomy as Columbus himself, and soon Columbus had 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 5 

told him his phms for crossing the ocean and all his 
disappointments. The prior of the convent also became 
interested. "• Do not go to France yet," he said. " Be- 
fore I came here, I was confessor to the queen. I will 
write to her, and perhaps she will listen to me." She 
did listen ; and before many days had passed, the little 
seaport town of Palos was in a fever of excitement, for 
three ships were to sail from there to cross the Atlantic, 
the " Sea of Darkness," as it was called. 

One bright morning in August, 1492, the ships sailed. 
" They will never come back again," said the wise peo- 
ple on the shore ; and it was not long before the sailors 
were ready to agree with them, for the needle of the 
compass no longer pointed to the north. Then the ships 
began to pass great masses of floating seaweed. " It 
will grow thicker and thicker," said the sailors, " and 
we shall never get out of it." Columbus explained 
these wonders as well as he could, but soon there was 
more trouble. " The wind always blows from the east," 
declared the men, " and we shall never be able to get 
home again." Fortunately the wind changed one day 
and blew from the a\ est. Day after day passed, and still 
no land Avas seen. The men began to gather in little 
groups and to Avhisper together. " There is no land 
here," they said. " The admiral is crazy. Let us throw 
him overboard and go home before our provisions give 
out." Columbus learned what they were saying. He 



6 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

called them up before him and said, " The sovereigns 
of Spain have sent me to fuid the Indies, and with the 
help of God I will go on until I see them." The very 
next morning a green rush floated by, and a stick that 
had been cut was picked up. Then the branch of some 
tree with red berries on it was seen. The men forgot 
their fears and were as eager as the admiral himself to 
hasten on. 

IS^ight came, but Columbus could not sleep. He stood 
gazing earnestl}^ into the west, and suddenly he saw a 
light that moved as if some one was walking and carry- 
ing a torch. When the moon rose, it shone on the white 
sand of one of the islands that are now called the 
Bahamas. 

In the morning Columbus put on his richest uniform, 
all aglow with scarlet and gold, and was rowed ashore. 
He fell on his knees, kissed the ground, and thanked 
God for his goodness. Then he unfurled the royal 
standard and cried, " In the name of the glorious sov- 
ereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, I take possession of 
this land and name it San Salvador." 

All this time a crowd of people, half hidden in the 
woods, were watching Columbus and his men with wide- 
open eyes. At first they were frightened; but when 
they saw that the strangers did not attempt to harm 
them, they came nearer and nearer. " Those are good 
spirits come down from the skies," they whispered. 



8 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

They threw themselves on their knees before the Span- 
iards to show their reverence. Then they touched the 
clothes and beards and white skins of the exjDlorers, 
and welcomed them as well as they conld by signs. 
Columbus gave them glass beads and little bells and 
red and blue caps, and they brought him in return tame 
parrots, baskets of fruit, and great balls of cotton yarn. 

These natives were copper colored. Their hair was 
straight and black and they had no beards. They were 
naked, unless the rings that some of them wore in their 
noses could be called articles of dress. The Spaniards 
looked eagerly at these rings, for they seemed to be of 
pure gold. " Where does the gold come from ? " they 
asked as well as the}^ could by signs. " Over there," the 
natives replied, pointing to the southwest. Columbus 
supposed that he was on one of the islands off east- 
ern Asia, and that they were pointing to the mainland. 
For many weeks he sailed among the islands, hoping to 
find some of the great cities of Asia. Then he decided 
to go home and report to the sovereigns. '' I can come 
again next year," he thought. " ^ow that I have found 
the way to India, there will be no lack of ships or men." 

More than two months later, the bells of Palos rang 
merrily, the shops and schools were closed, and the 
whole town flocked to the wharves, for Columl)us was 
coming up the river. As soon as he had landed, a pro- 
cession Avas formed, and he went to the church to thank 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 9 

God for bringing him safely home. It is easy to guess 
where he went next, for Cohimbus never forgot those 
who had been kind to him. He went straight to his 
old friends, the monks of La Rabida. From there he 
sent a letter to the sovereigns. 

Then there was great excitement at the Spanish 
court. The sovereigns wrote Columl^us a letter, ad- 
dressed to " Don Christopher Columbus, our admiral of 
the ocean sea, and viceroy and governor of the islands 
discovered in the Indies." This letter bade him come 
to court at once, and Columbus obeyed. All the way 
people lined the roads and stood at the doors and win- 
dows, gazing at the great man and cheering as he went 
by. When he reached Barcelona, a procession was 
formed. First came six Indians whom Columbus had 
brought Avith him. They were followed by the sailors 
carrying parrots, stuffed birds, the skins of strange 
beasts, plants, berries, and ornaments of gold that had 
come from the other side of the Atlantic. Then came 
the admiral on horseback in a handsome uniform, and 
after him a brilliant company of young nobles flashing 
with jewels. 

When they reached the royal audience room, there 
sat the king and queen on their throne, with a glittering 
canopy of cloth of gold over their heads. Around them 
stood the courtiers and the proudest nobles of Spain, 
all watching to catch the first glimpse of the man who 



10 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

had made the wonderful voyage. Among them must 
have been the boy Diego, for the queen had made him 
a page to her son. 

Columbus walked slowly up the room, gray-haired, 
dignified, as stately as any of the lordly Spaniards. He 




COLUMBUS RECOUNTING HIS ADVENTURES AT COURT 



knelt before the throne to kiss the hands of the sover- 
eigns; but they rose as they would have risen to greet 
any mighty king and bade him be seated. Then he 
told them about the voyage, the new lands, and the 
strange people whom he had seen. " There are even 
greater discoveries before us," he said. " The wealth 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 11 

of many kingdoms will come to Spain, and there are 
thousands of heathen to whom Spain can teach the 
religion of Christ." 

The king and queen wished Columbus to make an- 
other voyage at once. He did not have to plead for help 
now, for they said, " Send us the list of what vessels, 
food, and arms you will need, and they shall be sup- 
plied." As for men, there were thousands who would 
have been glad to go with him, for people believed that 
whoever went on this voyage would make his fortune. 
Soon the fleet of seventeen vessels was ready, and 
crowds of people stood on the shore cheering as it 
sailed away. 

It is almost a pity that the story of Columbus does 
not end here, for in the rest of his life there was much 
trouble and disappointment. He w ent on a third voyage, 
and this time he coasted along the continent of South 
America. He would have been glad to explore farther, 
but he had to go to Hayti to care for some colonists 
who had crossed the ocean with him on his second 
voyage. They had no idea of Avorking for the wealth 
they expected to get. They were discontented and 
quarrelsome, and they blamed Columbus for all their 
troubles. Some of them returned to Spain, and there 
made such complaints of the admiral that an officer 
named Bobadilla was sent to Hayti to take his place. 
Bobadilla threw Columbus into chains and accused him 



12 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

of so many crimes that he expected to be put to death 
without even a hearing. The great man was taken on 
board a vessel to be carried back to Spain. As soon 
as they were aw ay from Bobadilla, the captain and the 
owner of the vessel knelt before the prisoner and began 
to take off his irons. " ISTo," said the admiral, '' the king 
and queen sent the man who put these chains upon me, 
and they alone shall take them off." 

All the w^ay to Spain Columbus wore the fetters, but 
he was treated with as much honor as could have been 
show^n to the king himself; and as soon as the sover- 
eigns saw what wrong had been done him, they tried 
to make amends. Still they w^ere almost as much dis- 
appointed as the colonists, for they had expected that 
Columbus would find the rich cities of Asia. Some- 
thing had hai^pened, too, wdiile he was gone on this 
voyage, that made them even more dissatisfied. A Por- 
tuguese named Vasco da Gama had discovered that it 
was possil^le to sail around Africa; and he had returned 
with loads of silks and satins, spices, ivory, emeralds, 
and rubies. " That is the way to go to the Indies," 
declared the sea captains. " What is the use of trying 
to get to Japan and China by crossing the Atlantic? " 

Then Columbus determined to go- on a fourth voyage. 
He had no thought that a vast continent and the Pacific 
Ocean lay between China and the islands that he had 
seen. He believed that he could find a passage between 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 13 

the islands which would lead from the Atlantic to the 
Indian Ocean. Of course no such passage could be 
found, and he had to return to Spain, where he died 
less than two years later. He had dreamed of being 
very rich; all his life he was poor. He had dreamed of 
finding the Indies; he had failed. He died a disap- 
pointed man; but if he could have looked ahead four 
hundred years and seen the America of to-day, he 
would surely have rejoiced that he was the discoverer, 
not of a shorter way to India, but of a mighty con- 
tinent. 

OUTLINE 

Boyhood of Cokinibus — plan for crossing the Atlantic — sup- 
posed dangers of the voyage — appeal to Portugal — trickery of 
the Portuguese — journey to Spain — appeal to the Spanish sov- 
ereigns — La Rabida — Columbus sails at last — trouliles of the 
voyage — signs of land — going ashore — the natives — the return 
to Spain — Columbus at court — second voyage — third voyage — 
the discontented colonists — Columbus in chains — Portuguese 
discoveries — fourth voyage — death. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Diego tells another boy of his journey from Portugal to Spain, 
and of his visit to La Iiabida. 

Columbus appeals to the Spanish sovereigns. 

A sailor gives an accomit of Columbus's first voyage. 

A native of San Salvador describes the coming of the Spaniards. 



14 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

FERDI^AIN^D MAGELLAN 
WHO FOUND THE WAY AROUND THE WORLD 

WHILE Columbus was trying to persuade the 
Portuguese king to provide him with ships for 
crossing the "• Sea of Darkness," a baby was born far 
up among the mountains of Portugal who was to be- 
come as great a sailor as the famous admiral himself. 
When this child, Ferdinand Magellan, became a man, 
he found himself living in exciting times. ]N^ow that 
Columbus had shown the way, others crossed the At- 
lantic. They explored various parts of the coast, and at 
last people began to realize that not a group of islands 
but a great mass of land lay between the Atlantic 
and China. They hoped to find a passage through it. 
Everybody was talking about voyages. From early in 
the morning till long after the sun had set, the hammers 
of the shipbuilders rang; and sometimes the last blow 
was hardly struck on a vessel before every j)lace was 
taken, from captain to cabin boy. 

Magellan served in the Portuguese navy faithfully for 
many years, but when he asked for the promotion that 
was his due, the king refused. " Will you give me per- 
mission to serve some other sovereign? " demanded 
Magellan. " Do what you like," the king replied coldly. 
Magellan knelt to kiss his hand, as was usual in parting, 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 15 

but the king drew it back. The indignant sailor went 
straight to Spain and laid his plans before the Spanish 
ruler. 

" I have been in the Indies for seven years," he said, 
" and I know what wealth one can get by buying spices 
of the natives. My 
friend Serrano is now 
in the Moluccas, and 
this is what he writes 
me." He showed the 
letter of Serrano in 
which was written, 
"Here is a new world. 
Come if you want to 
get rich." Then said 
Magellan, " If you 
will give me ships 
and men, I will go 
to the lands across 
the Atlantic, and I 
will follow the coast 
southward till I come 
to some strait that leads to the China Sea. I will find the 
way to the Moluccas, and I will bring home such loads 
of spices as never yet came into any Spanish port." 

The king granted his request, and then came a busy 
time of making ready. The ships must carry provisions 




MAGELLAN 



16 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

for two 3^ears at least. They must have a good supply 
of powder and shot and cannon balls of iron and of 
stone. There must be darts and javelins and lances and 
pikes and crossbows and arquebuses and coats of mail. 
The natives of the Moluccas would not care for money, 
but they would care for glass beads, fishhooks, and 
bright-colored cloth, brass and copper bracelets, brass 
basins, little bells, knives, scissors, and looking-glasses; 
therefore a great quantity of these things was stored 
in the holds of the vessels. There w^ere twenty thousand 
little bells, for instance, and five hundred pounds of 
glass beads. 

These treasures were useful long before the explorers 
came to the Moluccas. Their first landing-place on this 
side of the Atlantic was in the Bay of Kio de Janeiro, 
and there the natives swarmed about the ships. " Give 
me that," one would say by signs, " and you may have 
this." The native would paddle away with a little bell 
or a fishhook, and the sailors would hasten to cook the 
big basketful of sweet potatoes or the half-dozen fowl 
that he had given in exchange. 

The ships kept close to the shore, and before long 
they were at the mouth of the Kio de la Plata. " It is 
possible that thijs is a strait," thought Magellan. For 
two days he sailed up the stream, but the water became 
fresher every hoar, so he knew that he was in a river., 
lie turned back and went on to the south, gazing 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 17 

closely at every opening that looked as if it might be 
a passage. The weather grew colder and colder; and 
at last he saw that he could go no farther before spring. 
So he anchored in a sheltered bay and shortened the 
rations. Then he had to meet greater trouble than ice 
and snow, for the sailors began to grumble. " There is 
no strait," they said. " This land stretches from pole to 
pole. Our lives are worth more than all the cloves of 
the Moluccas. Let us start for home." 

Magellan, however, had no idea of giving up. " Of 
what do you complain?" he asked. "Here is a sheltered 
bay with j^lenty of wood. There are fish in its waters 
and there are birds on its shores. The winter will soon 
be past, and then we can push on to a world that is rich 
in gold and spices. Your king will not forget to reward 
you. Will you go back to Spain and say, ' We were 
cold, and so we came home ' ? You are Spaniards, and 
Spaniards are brave. / Avould rather die than turn 
back ! " After this talk the sailors were content, but the 
captains led them into a second rebellion. Then the 
admiral did not plead, but punished the leaders severely. 

One morning an amazingly tall man appeared on the 
shore of the bay. He danced and sang and poured sand 
on his head. " Go ashore," said Magellan to one of his 
men. " Do whatever he does, and see if you can make 
friends with him." The sailor went ashore. When the 
giant danced, he danced; and when the giant poured 



18 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

sand on his head, the sailor poured sand on his OAvn 
head. " Come on board onr ship," said the sailor by 
signs, and the native went. He was so tall that it is 
said the Spaniards came np only to his waistband. They 
soon found that he was strong, for when they showed 
him his face in a little looking-glass, he was so amazed 
that he jumped backward with a force that threw four 
men down on the deck. Other natives almost as tall 
came afterwards. Their feet were dressed so clumsily 
that the* Spaniards called them Patagonians, or large- 
footed men. These 
giants were good-na- 
tured and gentle. The 
chaplain taught one of 
them to say the Lord's 
Prayer, and he was so 
pleased that he walked 
about shouting it at the 
top of his voice. 

As soon as spring had 
come, the ships went 
on. Another opening 
showed itself. " It may 
be the strait we are look- 
ing for," thought Magellan, and he sent two of his 
ships to explore. Suddenly a fierce storm broke out. 
Several days passed, but no ships appeared. '' They 




ONE OF MAGELLAN'S SHIPS 
From a drawing of the sixteenth century 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 19 

are surely wrecked," said the sailors, gazing anxiously 
over the water. " What is that coming around the 
point?" one of them cried, for he had caught sight of 
a white sail shining in the sun. In a moment more the 
two lost ships were in view. All sails were set, and 
flags and pennons were fluttering in the wind. "Boom! 
Boom!" went the big guns. "Hurrah!", shouted the 
men on the lost vessels. " Hurrah ! " shouted the men 
who had been waiting. "What have you found ? " 
Magellan called eagerly. " Is it a bay ? " 

" It is a deep channel," they replied; " it is no bay and 
no river." 

The admiral called his captains and pilots. " Shall we 
go on?" he asked. 

" No ! " replied one of the pilots. " We have not much 
food, and if there should be a storm or a calm for 
some time, we should starve. W.e have found the strait, 
and now let us go home and come back with another 
fleet." 

" Do you all agree ? " demanded Magellan. 

" No ! " cried the others. " Why should we go back 
now that the way has become easy! The Moluccas must 
be close at hand. Let us keep on." 

" We will," declared Magellan quietly, and he would 
probably have said the same whether the others agreed 
or not; "avc will go on till we have found the Moluc- 
cas. We will keep our promise to the king if we have 



20 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

to eat the leather on the ships' yards. May God help us 
and give us good fortune ! " 

On they went through the winding passage which 
was afterwards known as the Strait of Magellan ; and at 
last there came a day when the stern commander wept 
for joy, for before him sj^read a broad ocean so calm 
and quiet that he called it the Pacific. 

ly^ow the navigators of that day made one great mis- 
take: they thought the earth was much smaller than it 
is. Magellan supposed that he was perhaps a two or 
three weeks' sail from the Moluccas; but he went on and 
on, and still they seemed to come no nearer. There were 
provisions for only three months, and two months had 
already passed. " Land ahead ! " cried the watch one 
day, and then every one was happy. But the land proved 
to be only a little island with no water, no fruit," no food 
of any kind. It was top late to turn back, for they had 
not provisions enough for the voyage across the Atlan- 
tic; so they spread all sail and went onward, Avatching 
the western horizon as closely as Columbus had done. 
The httle water that was left on l)oai'd was so brackish 
that, thirsty as they were, they could hardly di'ink it. 
The biscuits were stale. At last even these gave out, and 
the men really did eat the leather on the ships' j^ards. 
They were almost ready to eat the ships themselves. 

After fourteen weeks of suffering on the Pacific, it 
was rather hard that, when they did come to land, they 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 21 

should fall among thieves. But so it was. They anchored 
off a group of islands to buy food, and the natives 
swarmed over the vessels and stole from under the 
owners' very eyes everything they could lay their hands 
upon. They did not spare even the admiral, for they 
stole the small boat which hung at the stern of his ship. 
It is no wonder that he named the islands Ladrones, or 
the thieves' islands. 

Then came another group of islands which long after- 
wards were called Philipjjines; and now the sailors had 
plenty of oranges, cocoanuts, and " figs a foot long," as 
they called bananas. 

"Where is the best place to buy spices?" Magellan 
asked the chief. 

" Over at the island of Sebu," he replied. 

" Will you give us guides to show us the way? " 

" If you will help me get my rice in, I myself will 
show you," was the reply. So the proud Spaniards went 
out among the rice and worked two days to help a 
savage chief bring in his crop. Then they all sailed to 
Sebu. 

The king of Sebu was very friendly. " You shall be 
my brother," he said to Magellan, "and no one but 
Spaniards shall trade in my land." They made a formal 
treaty of friendship. " I will help you to punish those 
who do not obey you," said Magellan. The chief of the 
little island of Mactan had no idea of obeying the king 



22 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

of Sebu, and Magellan set out to j^unish him. ^' Do not 
do it," pleaded the admiral's friends. " It is no gain to 
us if we conquer them." He would not yield, however, 
for the friendliness of the king of Sebu had given him 
an idea which he meant to carry out. " What a glorious 
thing it would be," he had said to himself, "• if I could 
repoi't to the king of Spain that all these islands are will- 
ing to obey him and to trade w^ith no other countries ! " 
He made ready for w^hat he thought would be only a little 
skirmish. It never entered his mind that forty-nine men 
in armor could be overpow ered by any number of sav- 
ages; so the Spaniards rowed boldly up to the island and 
landed. They were greeted w ith a storm of arrows and 
spears; but where were the islanders? Safely hidden in 
the bushes, ^ot one Spanish shot in twenty did them any 
harm. Of course they tried hardest to kill Magellan. 
He was wounded many times; but he held out for a 
long while, hoping to give his men time to retreat. At 
last he fell. One of the men who kept close by his side 
wrote afterwards, " The Indians threw themselves upon 
him with iron-pointed bamboo spears and scimitars and 
every weapon they had, and ran him through until they 
killed him." The Spaniards retreated to their ships. 
That night they sent a messenger to beg for the ad- 
miral's body. " Give it to us and you shall have cloth, 
bells, knives, whatever you like," he said. But the sav- 
ages replied, " ^o, not for the w hole world. We shall 



FERDINAND MAGELLAN 23 

keep that body, and then we can say to our enemies, 
' See what we took from the lordly Spaniards ! ' " 

There was nothing to do but to press on to the 
Moluccas, and before long the vessels were off the little 
island of Tidor. The chief came on board for a friendly 
call. He was not an altogether easy visitor to entertain, 
for, as he would never bow his head, it was rather diffi- 
cult to get him safely into the little cabin. He and the 
Spaniards agreed on how much should be paid for cloves. 
Red cloth, yellow cloth, linen, hatchets, knives, scissors, 
and caps were to be given in generous quantities; but 
soon there were so many cloves to be sold and so few to 
buy them that a yard of bright-colored ribbon would pay 
foi- one hundred pounds of the precious spice. Every 
sailor was allowed to carry home a certain number of 
pounds. All were eager to buy, and when their trinkets 
gave out, they bartered even their jackets and shirts; 
so they were somewhat scantily clad when they sailed 
homeward. 

Five vessels had left Spain. One was lost off the coast 
of Patagonia; one proved unseaworthy and was burned; 
one deserted and returned to Spain ; one finally fell into 
the hands of the Portuguese; and the Victoria alone 
was left. As she crossed the Indian Ocean and rounded 
the Cape of Good Hope, the air must have been fragrant 
behind her, for, besides all that the officers and sailors 
bought for themselves, she carried twenty-six tons of 



24 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

cloves. In 1522, three years from the time that the 
Yictoria sailed away, she anchored near Seville. Ma- 
gellan was gone; but it was he who planned the voyage, 
and it was his courage and perseverance that made it 
possible. His body remained in far-away Mactan, but 
the glory of the first journey around the world is his 
alone. 

OUTLINE 
What was known of the western lands in Magellan's day — 
Magellan's request of the king of Portugal — his appeal to the king 
of Spain — preparations for the voyage — barter with the South 
Americans — up the Rio de la Plata — discontent of the sailors — 
discovery of the Strait of Magellan — crossmg the Pacific — the 
Ladrones — the Philippines — the alliance with the king of Sebu 
— the fight at Mactan — death of Magellan — buying cloves — the 
homeward voyage. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A boy tells liis father why he wishes to sail with Magellan. 

A sailor describes the meeting with the Patagonians. 

A sailor tells his friends at home of buymg cloves at Tidor. 

FKAKCIS DEAKB 
SEAMAN 01^ QUEEN ELIZABETH 

WITHIN fifty years after Columbus had shown the 
way to America, Spaniards, Italians, English, 
French, and Portuguese visited the 'New World. All 
were hoping to find gold; but the SjDaniards were most 



FRANCIS DRAKE 



25 



FRANCISCVS DRAECIC' MOBIDSSIMVS 
faVES ANGtrAE • fS EST aVi TOTO T 
ORBE GRGMJVGO 



fi orcumdu 



successful, for they con- 
querecl Mexico aud 
Peru, and won their rich 
mines of gold and silver. 
Every year ships loaded 
with American treasure 
sailed into Spanish ports. 
England and Spain were 
not on good terms, and 
it was the special delight 
of the English seamen to 
capture a treasure ship. 
One of the most daring 
of these seamen was 
named Francis Drake. 

Even when Drake was 
a very small boy, he 
wanted to go to sea. If 
there had been no one to 
object, he could almost 
have launched his own house and sailed away on the 
ocean, for he, his parents, and a troop of younger 
brothers lived in the hulk of a great war-vship that lay 
just off the queen's dockyard in Chatham. When he 
awoke in the early morning, he could hear the little waves 
beating against the sides of the vessel. Then as he lay 
and listened, the sound of hammers could be heard, the 




FRANCIS DRAKE 

From an original portrait in St. James's 
Palace 



26 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

creaking of ropes, and the songs of the workmen in the 
dockyard. Strange, wild dreams had this httle bine-eyed 
boy. " Some day," he said to himself, " I will go off on 
one of those boats that the men are bnilding. I will fight 
with the Spaniards, and I will captnre great ships loaded 
with silver and gold. Then when I come sailing back to 
Plymouth, the people on the wharf will shout, ' Three 
cheers for Francis Drake ! ' " 

With hi^ mind full of such dreams as these, he must 
have felt disappointed when he was sent to sea with the 
skipper of a small trading vessel. There was no hope 
of capturing Spanish ships, for the little craft did no- 
thing but sail quietly back and forth between England 
and Holland or France, carrying goods to sell in the 
different markets. Still he was at least on the ocean; 
so he made the best .of it, and worked so faithfully that 
when the skipper died, he gave the young sailor the 
boat. Drake might have gone on trading if Spain and 
England had been friends; but Spain had begun to send 
out vessels to seize every English craft that could be 
captured, and Francis Drake's little coaster would have 
stood small chance of escape. So he sold it, and Avent 
on several voyages on vessels that were larger and l)et- 
ter able to protect themselves. 

.On one of these voyages he sailed away in the highest 
spirits. " When I come back, I shall be a rich man," he 
said to himself. There were six vessels in the little 



FRANCIS DRAKE. 27 

squadron. The admiral was a famous sailor, Sir John 
Hawkins. Drake was put in command of the Judith. 
They sailed to the African coast, seized some negroes, 
carried them to the Spanish settlements, and sold them 
as slaves. The ships were loaded with the gold and 
pearls which had been received in payment, and started 
for Eng*land. Before they had sailed many days, they 
were so disabled by a storm that the admiral had to put 
into the Spanish port of Yera Cruz for rej^airs. There, 
in the harbor, were twelve great Spanish ships loaded 
with gold and silver. On the following day twelve 
more arrived with the same sort of cargo. Hawkins 
and Drake said to the Spaniards, " AVe wish to refit 
our vessels and sail for home. If you will agree not to 
interfere with us, we will not touch your ships." The 
agreement was made, and for three days everything was 
quiet and friendly. Then, in spite of al] their promiseSj 
the Spaniards suddenly made a fierce attack on the 
English vessels. Hawkins in the Minion and Drake in 
the Judith succeeded in escaping and making their 
way to England; but the pearls and gold went to the 
bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. 

Drake reached home before the admiral, and told his 
story of the treachery of the Spaniards. He had lost all 
that he had invested, and he appealed to the queen to 
obhge Spain to make his loss good. Queen Elizabeth 
was not sure that Eng-land was strono: enousrh to fi"ht 



28 AJVIERICAN HERO STORIES 

with Spain, so she did nothing for him. Then Drake 
took matters into his own hands. He went on voyage 
after voyage. He robbed Spanish colonies, and he took 
Spanish gold and jewels wherever he could find them. 
King Philip of Spain complained bitterly of the " mas- 
ter thief of the western world," but the queen did not 
punish her seaman. 

On one of his voyages Drake had landed on the 
Isthmus of Panama and made his way across it. When 
he reached the highest point of the isthmus, the Indians 
who were his guides showed him a tall tree. '" Climb 
it," they said; and Drake obeyed eagerly. Steps had 
been cut into the tree, and soon he was on a little plat- 
form which was supported by the branches. Behold, a 
vast ocean was on eithei' hand. " Behind you is the 
^orth Sea, from which you have come," said his guides, 
" and before you is the South Sea." " Into which I will 
go," said Drake to himself. " May God give me leave 
and life to sail an English ship on that sea but once ! " 
he cried. • 

Year after year passed. One night a messenger came 
to Drake to say, " Her Majesty the Queen wishes to 
see you." The bluff sailor and the mighty sovereign 
had a long talk. jN^ot mau}^ months later five ships sailed 
out of Plymouth Harbor under Drake's command. They 
were not only fully armed, but they were provided with 
all the luxuries of the time. The fragrance of costly 



FRANCIS DRAKE 29 

perfumes floated back to the crowds on the wharf. The 
furnishings of the admiral's cabin were of the richest 
satin and velvet. The table was spread with the finest 
of linen and laid with dishes of silver and gold. When 
the commander was ready to dine, the sound of violins 
was heard, and the music continued until the meal was 
ended. 

As the ship sailed away, some people on the wharf 
said, "■ I hope his voyage to Egypt will be a success." 
Others retorted, " Those ships will never see Egypt; 
they are going to trade and explore in the South Sea." 
Still others smiled knowingly and said to themselves, 
" The exploring will be searching for Spanish ships, 
and the trading will be seizing Spanish treasures." This 
last was exactly what Drake meant to do ; but if a hint 
of his plans had reached Spain, the treasures would 
have l)een safely hidden. Sixty years earlier Magellan 
had sailed through the strait that bears his name, but 
no one else had ever succeeded in making the voyage. 
" What Magellan did, I can do," thought Drake, and 
he sailed down the coast of South America and steered 
boldly into the strait. Two vessels had ah-eady been 
broken up as unseaworthy; a fierce tempest scattered 
the other three; one sank; and the commander of the 
second went home in despaii*. For fifty-two days Drake 
was driven about by terrible storms. When the gales 
ceased, he foimd that his vessel was lying among a 



30 ■ AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

group of islands. He landed on the most southern and 
walked alone to its farthest extremity. There he stood 
looking at the breakers rolling up on the shore. Before 
him the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific mingled. 
He threw himself on the ground, clasped his arms about 
a jagged rock, and said to himself, " I am the only man 
in the world who has ever been so far south," 

The exciting part of the voyage was yet to come. 
Some of the treasure that the Spaniards took from 
Peru was carried to Panama by land, and some was 
loaded on shipboard and carried up the coast to the 
isthmus. One of these ships with a cargo of good j^ellow 
gold was lying in Valparaiso. The crew caught sight of 
white sails coming toward them. " See ! " they cried. 
" There 's one of our ships ! Get the wine ready and we 
will make a night of it!" The flags were run up and 
the drums were beaten in welcome; but almost before 
the Spaniards had discovered their, mistake, the Eng- 
Hshmen had seized the ship and fastened the men under 
the hatches. So it was that the Golden Hind went mer- 
rily up the coast, now and then seizing a vessel full of 
provisions or valual^les. One day some of the men went 
ashore, and there they came across a man who had laid 
down his burden of silver bars and fallen asleep. " Par- 
don us, sir," they said with mock politeness in the best 
Spanish they could muster. " We are grieved to dis- 
turb you, but we will make amends. We will relieve 



■- FRANCIS DRAKE 31 

you of the weight of the silver, and then your journey 
will be less wearisome." 

Drake was aiming for Lima, where he expected to 
find vessels worth capturing. The vessels were there, 
but every ounce of treasure had either been taken ashore 
or carried away two weeks earlier on a ship which was 
known among sailors as the Spitfire. " We will catch 
her," thought Drake, and he set out in pursuit. He 
captured one ship. "Where is the Spitfire?" he de- 
manded. " Ten days ahead," was the reply. The next 
capture said, " Five days," and the next, " Two days." 
Then Drake swung before the eyes of the sailors a 
golden chain that gleamed and glittered in the sunshine. 
" This goes to the man who sees the Spitfire first," he 
said. A boy, Drake's own nephew, was the fortunate 
one to win the reward. The Spitfire yielded without a 
bloAv, and such a cargo went into the hold of the Golden 
Hind as no English vessel had ever carried before: 
thirteen chests of Spanish dollars, eighty pounds of 
gold, twenty-six tons of silver, and more jewels than 
could be counted. Two or three other vessels were 
captured, but they proved to be loaded with silk and 
linen and china, and there was little room for such 
trifles in the treasure-laden hold. " I think her Majesty 
will be satisfied with what I have done," said Drake to 
himself, " and now we will make for home." 

The Spaniards were keeping close watch of the strait; 



32 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

but that did not trouble Drake in the least, for he had 
another plan in his mind. Mariners believed that there 
was a northern channel which led from the Pacific to 
the Atlantic. The Northwest Passage they called it, 
and Drake meant to find this passage and sail home 
through it. Straight north went the gold-laden vessel. 
The weather grew colder and colder, and when he was 
as far north as Vancouver Ishmd, he saw that it was of 
no use to try to go farther. So he determined to reach 
England by steering west across the Pacific and round- 
ing the Cape of Good Hope. He went south again and 
entered a harbor near where San Francisco now stands. 
The cliffs were white like those of England. " In the 
name of Queen EHzabeth," declared Drake, "I claim 
this land for England, and I name it H^ew Albion." He 
set up a " fair great post," and to the post he fixed a 
plate of metal marked with the date and the name of 
the queen. So it was that the English paid their first 
visit to the western shores of what is now the United 
States. 

Then the Golden Hind crossed the Pacific. Drake 
fell among thievish savages, he ran upon a reef, and he 
was caught in fearful gales; but at last he sailed into 
Plymouth Sound, the first English captain who had 
been around the world. His enemies were waiting for 
" the pirate," as they called him, and King Philip was 
clamoring for his punishment; but Queen Elizabeth 




12; 
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ft ^ 

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ii g 

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34 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

would not give up either Drake or the treasure that he 
had brought. In a few months she went in all state to 
dine with him on board his vessel. Before she left, she 
made him a knight. Thousands of peoi)le visited the 
Golden Hind, and she forbade that it should ever be 
destroyed. 

The queen was in need of brave sailors. A few years 
later Philip prepared a great fleet to attack England. 
He was so sure of victory that he called his fleet the 
Invincible Armada. Sixty vessels had already assembled 
off Lisbon and Cadiz. Here was a chance for Drake. 
He set out with four of the queen's vessels and twenty- 
six provided by merchants. Every one was eager to 
have a share in the enterprise, for wherever Drake went 
he found treasure. He sailed straight for Cadiz, and 
before the Spaniards even guessed that their enemy was 
at hand, he was burning ships and destroying stores. 
This was all very well, but Drake did not mean to re- 
turn to England empty-handed. He had heard that a 
Portuguese vessel with a precious cargo was near the 
Azores. He sailed out boldly, captured the shiji, loaded 
his vessel with a greater treasure than ever before, and 
went home. He sent a gay little message to the queen 
that he had "singed King Philip's beard." In reality 
he had done so much harm to the Armada that it could 
not sail for a whole year. 

At last, however, the Armada came. The English 



FRANCIS DRAKE 35 

•had made the best preparations that they could, and 
their fleet lay off Plymouth. Drake and the other ad- 
mirals were playing bowls on shore when suddenly a 
man ran among them so out of breath that he could 
only gasp, " The Spaniards, the Spaniards! They are 
off the coast! " Two of the ofl^icers started for their 
ships. But Drake called, " Gentlemen, let us go on with 
our game : there will be time enough to beat the Span- 
iards afterwards." The game was played out, and then 
the admirals went on board their vessels. The Si3aniards 
had a great many stately, top-heavy ships that they called 
galleons; the English had a mongrel fleet made up of 
almost all the kinds of craft that had ever been built. 
If they had been willing to stand still and be fired at, 
the Spaniards would probably have beaten ; but a little 
English boat, hardly longer than a fishing smack, would 
dash up under the high guns of a galleon and fire a 
shot or two. Then, before the clumsy Spanish vessel 
could turn around, the English boat had slipped away 
and was firing at another great war-ship. Drake was the 
man of whom the Spaniards were most afraid. People 
believed in magic in those days, and many a man whis- 
pered, " He has sold himself to the devil, and Satan is 
helping him." They must almost have thought Drake 
to be Satan himself when they knew his next exploit. 
The English sent burning boats among the galleons. 
In their fright the Spanish ships cut loose from their 



36 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

anchors and soon were widely separated. Then was* 
Drake's time. He dashed np to one after another and 
captnred it, and with twelve of the great vessels in tow 
went back to the fieet. The winds and waves finished 
the work, and only sixty of Phili2)'s ships ever went 
back to Spain. 

Drake made another expedition across the Atlantic 
in qnest of treasiii'e, bnt it failed. The Spaniards had 
learned better how to meet " the drag-on," as they called 
him, and they hid their riches more carefnlly. Sickness 
came npon the little company. Every day there were 
deaths. At last Drake himself fell ill and grew worse 
rapidly. The face of the snrgeon was grave, and the 
men gathered in gronps to talk of the suffering admiral. 

" There will never be another man like him," they 
declared. 

" IS^o," said one, " he never forgot his men, and when 
there was a prize, he gave ns the generous share." 

" He was good to his prisoners, too," added another. 
" Any other man would have killed them, but he let 
them go free, and once he even gave them a vessel to 
go home in." 

" He brought a stream of fresh water into Plymouth, 
and he and Sir John gave the Chatham Chest to help 
poor sailors." 

" He never would let a church be burned or the house 
of any woman that begged for mercy." 



FRANCIS DRAKE 37 

So the men talked of their beloved commander. The 
fleet had anchored near the little island of Puerto Bello, 
and a few days later it sailed slowly ont to sea, bearing 
the leaden coffin in which were the remains of the dead 
admiral. Trnmpets were blown, cannon were fired, and 
then the body of the old hero was lowered solemnly and 
reverently into the ocean. 

OUTLINE 

The quest for gold in America — the boj^hood of Francis Drake 

— he becomes a sailor — sells his boat — his voyage on the Judith 
— loss of the pearls and gold — his appeal to Queen Elizabeth for 
payment — his revenge on Spain — his first view of the South Sea 

— the queen sends for him — he sails on a mysterious voyage — 
the storm drives him " farthest south " — he seizes Spanish trea- 
sure on sea and on land — he pursues the Spitfire — the quest for 
the Northwest Passage — lands at " New Albion " — crosses the 
Pacific — the queen visits the Golden Hind — Philip plans to 
attack England — " singeing King Philip's beard " — the coming 
of the Armada — the sea fight — Drake's last voyage — his repu- 
tation among his men — his burial. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A day with Francis Drake in his boyhood. 
Drake tells Queen Elizabeth of the behavior of the Spaniards at 
Vera Cruz. 

Philip's appeal to Queen EHzabeth to punish Drake. 
Drake tells his adventures to his nephew. 



38 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

JOHN SMITH 

THE FATHER OF VIRGINIA 

DURIi^G the century following Columbus's first 
voyage, the Spanish established colonies in the 
New World, but neither the French nor the English suc- 
ceeded in making a permanent settlement. A few years 
after the death of Drake, a company of Englishmen 
determined to settle in America. One cold December 
morning their three little vessels sailed down the Thames 
River. " Good-by," shouted the people on the wharf. 
" Be sure to find the Northwest Passage ! " cried one. 
"Make the Indians tell you what became of Raleigh's 
colony!" bade another; and a third called, "Don't for- 
get to send us some pearls and a great lump of gold ! " 
The colonists were eager to be off, but they might as 
well have stayed at home a while longer, for the wind 
was contrary, and for six long weeks they could not get 
out of sight of England. At last, however, they were 
fairly at sea. They were croAvded in the three small 
vessels, the voyage was long and wearisome, and they 
had nothing to do. The}^ talked a great deal about a 
certain little box that was on board. King James liked 
to do the simplest things with a great air of mystery. 
So he had told them that the names of those Avho Avere 
to govern the colony were in the box, but he had for- 



JOHN SMITH 39 

bidden it to be opened until they had reached Virginia. 

They talked, too, a great deal about one another. Some 

of the idle voyagers had the absurd notion that one man 

on board meant to 

murder the principal 

ones among them, and 

make himself king, 

and for thirteen weeks 

they kept him a close 

prisoner. 

This man's name 
was John Smith. He 
was only twenty-eight 
years old, but he had 
had many strange ex- 
periences. His jDar- 
ents died when he was 
a boy. JN^o one seemed 
to take any care of 
him, and he wandered 
away to France. He became a soldier, rose to be 
captain, was taken prisoner by the Turks, and made to 
wear a heavy iron ring about his neck. He escaped and 
found his way again to England, arriving in time to 
go to America with the colonists. 

The ship came to Avhat is now Virginia at the end of 
April, 1607, and after many weeks on the ocean, the 




JOHN SMITH 

From Smith's map of Virginia published in 1624 



40 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

country seemed to the weary colonists a perfect fairy- 
land. The air was soft and warm. There were tall trees, 
green hills, rivers, and meadows. There were straw- 
berries four times as large as those in England. There 
were delicious oysters; and to make it seem even more 
like fairyland, in some of the oysters there were beau- 
tiful jjearl^. 

Glad as they were of both pearls and oysters, they 
did not forget to open the little box. In it they found 
that John Smith was named as one of the seven gov- 
ernors; and it is hard to see how Jamestown, as the little 
settlement had been named, could have lived without 
him. Most of the colonists called themselves " gentle- 
men;" and according to their ideas, gentlemen were 
men who never did any work, — the very worst kind of 
people to come to a new country. The voyage had been 
much longer than was expected, and there was little 
left to eat but stale wheat and barley, and not much of 
that. These helpless " gentlemen " quarreled like bad- 
tempered children. One declared indignantly, " The 
president would not give me a penny knife that I 
wanted." " And he would not give my son a spoonful 
of beer," added another. " I believe that he takes the 
best of everything for himself," said a third. There was 
one excuse for their quarreling, and that was that they 
were all suffering. When a place was chosen for their 
colony, no one had stopped to think whether it was 



JOHN SMITH 41 

healthful or not, and they had settled on a little penin- 
sula extending into the James River, because it could 
be easily protected against the Indians, and because the 
water was so deep that ships could be tied to the trees. 
When the hot sun began to beat down, however, the 
colonists sickened, and nearly two thirds of the whole 
number died. 

Governor Smith made journeys up the rivers with 
chisels and hatchets and copper to exchange for corn; 
and whether the Indians wanted to trade or not, he al- 
ways returned with a boatful of food. On one of these 
journeys he was captured by the savages; but instead of 
appearing frightened, he began to amuse the chief by 
showing him a pocket compass. A young brave was ill, 
and Smith said, " If you will let me send a leaf from my 
notebook to my friendsj I will tell you where you will 
find a bottle of medicine for him." The bottle was found 
at the place that he named, and the savages began to be 
a little afraid of the man who could make a bit of paper 
talk. " Be one of our tribe," they said, " and show us how 
to attack the fort of the white men. You shall have some" 
of our squaws for wives." Smith did not agree to this, 
so they carried him to their King Powhatan. A grave 
council was held, and it was decided that the prisoner 
should be put to death. He was tied fast and laid upon 
the ground. The Indians stood over him with heavy 
clubs ready to strike; but suddenly the king's little 



42 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

daughter Pocahontas threw her arms about him. Among 
the Indians, if a woman had lost a relative in battle, she 
was free to adopt a prisoner in his place if she chose, 
and the Indians must have been amused to see the little 

girl playing the part 




of 



a grown woman. 



Then, too, there was 
that compass, and if 
they killed a man who 
owned so wonderful 
a thing, there was no 
knowing what might 
happen to them. Pow- 
hatan turned away, 
saying, " Let him 
live. He shall make 
hatchets for me and 
copper bells and beads 
for my daughter." 
After Smith had been 
with them about a 
month, Powhatan 
said, " You are one of 

us now, and you may go back to your Avhite friends if 

you choose." 

Smith went back, and the time of his coming was a 

happy one in Jamestown, for on that day a ship sailed 



POCAHONTAS 

After the original painting now in possession of the 
Rolfe family . 



JOHN SMITH 43 

in from England bringing- new colonists. Unfortu- 
nately, however, most of them were like the other " gen- 
tlemen." They had no thought of going to work, but 
began to search for gold. They found plenty of glitter- 
ing bits of mica, and they discovered some yellow stones 
all bright and shining. " Hurrah for the gold ! " they 
cried, and they sent a whole shipload of the worthless 
stuff back to England. 

Now the company of merchants and others who had 
paid the expenses of carrying the colonists across the 
ocean began to feel as if they ought to have some re- 
tiu'u for their money. America was full of treasui'es, 
they believed, and they wrote, " Why do you not send 
us a lump of gold to show that you are really doing 
something ? You seem to stay around Jamestown all 
the time; why don't you explore the country and find 
a passage to China ? " The comj^any sent a command 
which they probably thought sure to win the friendship 
of the Indians. " Go to King Powhatan," they said, 
" and crown him Emperor of Yirginia." Half a dozen 
blue beads or a new hatchet would have pleased Pow- 
hatan more than a coronet; but the company must be 
obeyed, so he was crowned. He was a little afraid of 
the long scarlet cloak that they wanted to lay upon his 
shoulders. '^ It won't hurt you," whispered one of his 
braves who had been to England with the whites; and 
the " Emperor of Virginia " allowed it to be thrown 



44 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

around him. The volley fired in his honor gave him a 
terrible fright, but at last the absurd performance was 
over. The " Emperor " graciously presented the whites 
with his old blanket to send to King James, and the 
colonists went back to Jamestown. 

All this nonsense must have disgusted Captain Smith. 
He said nothing, however, but set to work to get to- 
gether as much tar, pitch, potash, and clapboards as he 
could to send to England. He also sent a letter to the 
company which must have made them open their eyes. 
He told them how foolish it was to expect colonists to 
find gold mines or even to send home great cargoes of 
tar, when they had all they could do to defend them- 
selves and get something to eat. " You sent us a ship," 
he said, " but the captain stayed here so long that, little 
corn as there was, we had to give him three hogsheads 
for the voyage home. Most of the men that you send us 
are of no use. Give us thirty carpenters, gardeners, 
blacksmiths, men who can work, rather than a thousand 
of such as we have." 

There were other troubles than the laziness of the 
men, for the " Emperor of Yirginia " was not pleased 
when he found that they meant to stay, and he made 
a plan to destroy the whole colony. He would probably 
have succeeded if the child Pocahontas had not been so 
friendly to the white men. One dark night she slipped 
away from her home and ran through the woods to 



JOHN SMITH 45 

Jamestown. "My father means to attack you," she 
whispered, and then she hurried away. Powhatan must 
have been amazed when a few days later Smith sent 
him a message, " We are all ready for you. Come when- 
ever you choose." 

So it was that John Smith watched over the colony. 
He got food from the Indians when no one else could 
succeed. He made the company understand that even 
in America lumps of gold were not lying about on the 
banks of every river. Perhaps his greatest achievement 
was making the lazy colonists work. They all expected 
to be served with rations whether they helped dig and 
plant, make clapboards, and build houses, or wandered 
about searching for pearls. When Smith became presi- 
dent of the colony, he declared, " IS'o one will receive 
any rations who does not labor six hours a day." So 
the idle people had to take up their axes and hoes and 
go to work. 

After two years of these struggles, while Smith lay 
asleep in his boat one day, a bag of gunpowder ex- 
ploded and injured him so severely that his only hope 
of life was to go to England for treatment. For several 
years there were no more voyages of discovery for 
him, but during that time he wrote an interesting book 
about his life in Virginia. He never saw Jamestown 
again, but news of the little settlement came to him 
over the sea. The colonists were in sore need of his 



46 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

good sense, for they were in constant tronble. More 
and more men had gone to Virginia till there were in 
all nearly five hnndred. Then came a terrible winter 
when food could not be had, — a winter that was always 
spoken of as the " Starving Time." In the spring only 
sixty colonists were left alive, and there would have 
been even fewer if Pocahontas had not often contrived 
to send them corn and meat, ^o heljD came from Eng- 
land, and at last the little company of suffering people 
set out in their small boats, hoping to get to IN^ewfound- 
land and to find there some vessel that would carry 
them home. They did not dream that English vessels 
loaded with provisions were just off the mouth of the 
river. Soon, however, they discovered them. So they 
went back to Jamestown, and the colony was saved. A 
gentleman named John Rolfe began to raise tobacco. 
His neighbors did the same; and after that there was no 
fear of starving, for Virginia tobacco always brought a 
good price. 

These were some of the bits of news that came to 
Captain Smith from the colony that he had saved and 
guarded; but one day he heard something that must 
have brought his life in America even more vividly 
before him — the Lady Rebekah was on her way to 
England. This Lady Rebekah was the little Pocahon- 
tas, now grown to a tall young woman and married to 
John Rolfe. She was presented at court and entertained 



48 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

by the Bishop of London; Init she was not at all taken 
aback by the city or the great folk whom she met. 
" She carries herself as the daughter of a king," de- 
clared a writer of the time. Of course Captain Smith 
went to see her. He saluted her most respectfully, but 
she was not pleased at his deference. " When you were 
in Powhatan's land, you called him father," she said; 
" and now that I am in your land, you must call me your 
child and let me call you father." 

Captain Smith had no idea of giving up the business 
of exploring, and after a while he made several trips 
to what is now ]N^ew England. He drew maps of the 
coast, Jie caught fish, he searched for gold mines, he 
bought furs of the Indians, and he tried hard to found 
a colony. The last years of his life were spent in 
writing. He wrote five or six books about America, an 
interesting account of his adventures, and " A Sea 
Grammar," to teach how a ship should be built, rigged, 
and managed. 

Off the coast of IN^ew Hampshire is a little grou]i of 
tiny islands, the Isles of Shoals, hardly more than ])arren 
rocks. Here it is probable that Smith landed, and on 
one of them a monument was long ago placed in his 
memory. It could hardly have l)een reared in honor 
of a mUn who was a braver explorer, a more unselfish 
colonize)-, or a better friend to any American colony in 
its early days of suffering and struggle. 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 49 

OUTLINE 

English colonists start for America — the long voyage — idle 
talk on board — John Smith's early life — landing in Virginia — 
opening the mysterious box — the quarrelsome " gentlemen " — 
sickness at Jamestown — Governor Smith captured by the Indians 
— Pocahontas defends him — arrival of new colonists — their 
" gold " — the demands of the company — crowning Powhatan — 
Governor Smith's letter to the company — the kindness of Poca- 
hontas — Smith's treatment of the lazy colonists — he leaves Vir- 
ginia — the Starving Time — how the colony was saved — tobacco 
raising — Pocahontas in Eng-land — Smith's last years — his mon- 
ument. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

The colonists' first day in Virginia. 
Powhatan describes his coronation. 

A colonist writes a letter home beginning, "We had a very 
hard winter." Finish the letter. 

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 

THE FOUNDER OF QUEBEC 

WHILE Spain and England were interested in the 
iSTew World, it was not forgotten by the French 
explorers and fur-traders. On one of the fur-trading 
expeditions a young man named Samuel de Champlain 
was sent by the French king to see as much of the 
country about the St. Lawrence as he could and write a 
Journal about his expedition. 



50 



AMERICAN HERO STORIES 




When he came home, he pubhshecl his journal. The 
French began to say, " The SjDanish have a ' New 
Spain' in America; why should we not have a ' New 
France ' ? " Before long three ships sailed away, not 

only to trade, but to make 
a settlement. Champlain 
was one of the leaders. 
They chose for their colony 
a little island at the mouth 
of the St. Croix River. "It 
is sure to be warm and plea- 
sant here," they thought, 
" for it is no farther north 
than the southern part of 
our own France." 
They set to work to build houses for themselves. 
They mounted tlieir cannon and laid out little flower 
gardens. Champlain took great j^ains to water his 
flowers, but the sun was so hot that it scorched them. 
The mosquitoes bit savagely, and the men had to work 
with all their might; but they were happy, and when 
the ship returned to France, they bade her a cheerful 
farewell. They had no idea what was before them; but 
soon the Avind grew bitterly cold, the water froze, the 
ground froze, even the cider froze and was served in 
chunks and splinters. Wood was scarce, for masses of ice 
barred the river and shut them from the forests of the 



CHAMPLAIN 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 51 

mainland. Half of the company died. " Oh, if the ship 
would only come again ! " they groaned. At last the 
ship came. " We will not stay here another winter," 
the colonists declared, and Champlain set out to find a 
better place for their settlement. 

After a long search, he finally chose a place in [N^ova 
Scotia near where Annapolis now stands. Then there 
was a moving day indeed, for they moved not only their 
clothes and axes and kettles and cannon, but even the 
houses, — at least those that could be taken apart easily 
and put on board the ship. They were full of courage 
when they landed. "Look at that range of hills!" they 
cried. "]N"o cold winds will blow through those. We 
will build tighter houses, too, and make sure of having 
wood enough." 

Food was plenty, and good times were plenty, for fif- 
teen of the principal men formed a society which they 
named " The Order of Mirth." They took turns in being 
Grand Master, and the one who held the ofiice for the 
day must provide for the table. He might hunt or fish 
or buy of the Indians, but in some w^ay he must secure 
a dinner. When dinner time came, the little procession 
marched into the dining room. The Grand Master led 
the way. A napkin was thrown over his shoulder, and 
an ornamented collar, the badge of the order, w^as 
around his neck. The other men followed, each one 
carrying his plate. The Indians sat about on the floor, 



52 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

waiting for their share of the feast, and gazing with 
grave amusement at the strange pranks of their white 
friends. 

So the time passed and spring came. The colonists 
had a water-mill, and they were making and burning- 
brick. Champlain had laid out his garden as usual, and 
they were ready for a busy and happy summer. They 
never dreamed that a ship was on the ocean with a letter 
that said they must come home, because the people who 
sent out the colony could not support it any longer. 

Every one was filled with regret. " The hardest time 
was over," they said gloomily. " We had just found out 
how to live here." " I '11 come back and make my home 
in this place," declared one, " if I have to come alone 
with my wife and the children." 

Champlain was sadly disappointed at having to leave 
Nova Scotia, but he packed up his journal and the maps 
and sea charts that he had made and began to think 
what to do next. A place that he had seen on the St. 
Lawrence kept coming before his mind. " The river is 
narrow there," he said to himself. " That high hill could 
be easily fortified, and the little stream that flows down 
beside it on the north would help to defend it. The 
Indians are friendly and will listen to us when we tell 
them of the Christian faith. ' Ivebec,' as they call it, is 
the very place for a fur station and for a colony." 

He had no money to send out ships, so he appealed 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 53 

for help to a wealthy nobleman in Paris. This noble- 
man read Champlain's journal, and pored over its maps 
and pictures. At last he said, " I '11 found a colony at 
Kebec, provided you will be its governor." So in the 
summer of 1608, one year after the settlement of James- 
town, a shipload of eager French colonists landed on 
the flats in the shadow of the towering cliff of Kebec, 
or Quebec, as they spelled it. 

There was enough for every one to do, and they set to 
work to clear the ground and build their houses. Cham- 
plain kept a journal of course, aud in it he drew a pic- 
ture of the cluster of build- 
ings. It must have looked 
quite like some old castle ; 
for there Avas a moat and 
a drawbridge, platforms 
for the cannon, a store- 
house, a forge, and three 
houses, each two stories 
high. Nor did Champlaiu 
forget his flower garden- 
He liked birds as well as 

flowers, and he had a dovecote that looks in the picture 
half as large as one of the houses. 

The winter was long and cold. Sickness came upon 
the colonists and many died. It was an even harder 
winter for the Indians, and they often came to the 




CHAMPLAIN'S DRAWING OF QUEBEC 
IN 1613 



54 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

fort to beg the kind-hearted governor for food. These 
Indians were Algonquins, and to the south of them, in 
what is now I*^ew Yoi'k, were the Iroquois, their bitter 
enemies. " We shall go on the warpath after the winter 
is over," the Algonquins told Champlain, and they looked 
longingly at the " fire-sticks " of the Frenchmen. Then 
said Champlain, " I want to see the country to the south- 
ward. If you will guide me, I will help you against the 
Iroquois." The Algonquins were overjoyed. " The 
great governor is going to kill the Iroquois with his 
fire-sticks," they said. 

When spring came, a party of Indians, together with 
Champlain and two other Frenchmen, paddled up the 
St. Lawrence and the Richelieu rivers and down the 
lake which was afterwards named for Champlain. Every 
day brought them nearer the Iroquois, and at last they 
saw the canoes of their enemies. " Go home and plant 
corn!" shouted the Iroquois. "You can't fight!" 

" We '11 go home and take you with us ! " retorted 
the Algonquins. 

Both parties made ready for battle. In the morning 
the Algonquins dashed forward. Then came the great 
surprise of the day, for Cham^^lain fired his gun. Two 
of the Iroquois fell. The others stood for a moment 
motionless. A second Frenchman fired, and the Iroquois 
ran as if the witches were after them. This little fight 
in the wilderness was really an imj^ortant action, for 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 55 

from that day the fierce Iroquois were bitter enemies 
of the French. 

Champlain made several journeys to France. On one 
of these he was married to a child of twelve. Little 
Helene was left there in school for a few years, while 
her explorer husband went back to his colony over the 
seas. He did not forget his child wife, however, and 
he gave her name to an island in the river. 

On Champlain's first voyage to the St. Lawrence, the 
Lidians had told him of a salt sea to the northward. He 
longed to go in search of it, and now he had good reason 
to think that he could find it. A young man who had 
spent the winter among the Lidians returned to Paris 
and declared that he had been up the Ottawa River, 
and near its head had found a sea of salt water. Every 
one was interested, f oi* this was thought to be surely the 
Northwest Passage. Champlain and the young man 
went back to Quebec and set out to find the way to 
Lidia. They went up the Ottawa River to Allumette 
Island, and Chamj^lain said to the Indians, " This young 
man says he went north last winter to the great salt sea. 
Will you give me guides so I can go to it ? " 

The chief looked sternly at the young man and de- 
manded, " Did you go to the great salt sea last winter ? " 

" Yes," he replied falteringly. 

The chief turned his back upon him. " The fellow is 
a great liar," he said to Champlain. " He was with us all 



56 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

winter. He slept in that wigwam every night. Give him 
to us and we will see to it that he does not tell any more 
Ues." 

Then the young man confessed that he had made up 
the whole story to win attention in Paris, and that he 
had not dreamed of Champlain's trying to make the 
journey. " If you will only pardon me," he pleaded, " I 
will go north next summer till I find whether there is 
a sea or not." And Champlain, disappointed as he was, 
pardoned him. 

So the life of the governor of Quebec went on. He 
explored; he helped the Algonquins in their raids against 
the Iroquois, spending one whole winter among them; 
he established a fur station at Montreal; and he carried 
out a plan that was very dear to him of bringing over 
from France four missionaries to tell the Indians of the 
Christian faith. They had a good heljDer in the wife of 
Champlain. In the years when her explorer husl^and 
was going back and forth between France and America, 
the little Helene had grown up, and when she was twenty- 
two she came to Quebec. " A brave girl," her brother 
called her when he met her at the wharf. She was much 
interested in the shy little Indian children, and set to 
work at once to learn their language so as to talk Avith 
them and teach them. They were soon Jier devoted 
friends, and the braves and squaws almost worshiped 
her. 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 



57 



There were many hard years for the colony on the 
rock, but at last a summer came when all things pro- 
mised well. Champlain was making ready to welcome 
the ships from France with supplies for the winter; but 
France and England 
were at war, and sud- 
denly six English ves- 
sels appeared off Que- 
bec. The commander 
sent a polite note to the 
governor, demanding 
the surrender of the 
place. Champlain in his 
reply signed himself 
"Your affectionate ser- 
vant," just as the Eng- 
lish commander had 
done, but he boldly re- 
fused to surrender. The 
Englishman did not 
know that the company had not kept the fortifications 
in repair, and that food was so scanty that the men were 
allowed only seven ounces of dried peas a day. He 
sailed away from Quebec, but he cajDtured the supply 
ships at the mouth of the river, so no food came to the 
colony all that long winter. They divided the peas by 
comit ; they bought all the moose meat that the Indians 




THE TAKING OF QUEBEC 
From an engraving of 1G98 



58 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

would spare ; they fished as much as their few lines and 
hooks would permit; and they ate every kind of root 
that was fit for food. 

When even the roots seemed to be giving out, Eng- 
lish war-ships appeared again and demanded surrender; 
and Champlain, brave old soldier as he was, was forced 
to give up without firing a gun. He had to leave Que- 
bec ; but when the treaty between the two countries was 
signed, Canada was given back to France, and he was 
again made governor. One morning in May, the people 
in Quebec were aroused at sunrise by the firing of 
cannon. They were in a great fi'ight; but it did not last 
long, for soon their beloved governor stepped ashore. 
Up the hill to the fortress he went, escorted by a com- 
pany of French soldiers. Flags waved, drums beat, and 
cheer followed cheer, for Champlain had come again to 
the people who loved him so' well. Far back into the 
forests the word went swiftly from one tribe of red men 
to another that the governor had come, and hundreds 
of them hastened to Quebec to welcome him. For three 
years longer he worked and planned for the land that 
he loved; and when the end came, he died in the fort 
on the rock, a brave explorer, a wise governor, a true 
friend and helper of every one around him. 



MILES STANDISH 59 

OUTLINE 

Champlain and his journal of the St. Lawrence voyage — the 
French colony at the St. Croix — moving to Nova Scotia — " the 
Order of Mirth " — the colonists return to France — Champlain 
plans a colony at Quebec — the new settlement on the St. Law- 
rence — the first winter in Quebec — Champlain's agreement with 
the Algonquin's — the expedition against the Iroquois — Cham- 
plain's marriage — his search for the Northwest Passage — mis- 
sion work — the coming of the English vessels — hard times in 
Quebec — the surrender of the colony — Champlain's return to 
Quebec, 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A letter from the St. Croix settlement. 

" Helene " tells what she saw when she reached Quebec. 

Champlain describes his return to Quebec. 



MILES STANDISH 

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE PILGRIMS 

ONE cold winter day, thirteen years after the foimd- 
ing of Jamestown, a ship was tossing about in the 
wild breakers off the coast of Cape Cod. It had been 
on the ocean for more than two months, much of the 
time in gales and tempests. Once the sailors had rebelled 
and declared that it must return to England. "We 
won't risk our lives in the shattered old hulk," they said; 
but the leaky seams were calked as best they could be 



60 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

and the vessel sailed on. The passengers had expected 
to go farther south, but the storms had driven them far 
out of their course, and they saw that the best thing to 
do was to get inside the point of Cape Cod for shelter. 




THE DEPARTURE OF THE PILGRIMS 
From a painting by C. W. Cope 

These people had not come to America to find lumps 
of gold or to search for the Korthwest Passage; they 
had come, men, women, and children, to make them- 
selves homes in the IS^ew World. In England, as in 
most other places at that time except Holland, people 
were obliged by law to attend the same church as the 



MILES STANDISH 61 

king; and if they did not, they were fined or imprisoned 
or sometimes put to death. And yet, when they wanted 
to leave the kingdom, King James forbade their going ! 
A httle company, however, succeeded in escaping to 
Holland. They lived there for twelve years; but they 
were English, and badly as their country had treated 
them, they loved it. They could not bear to have their 
children speak Dutch and grow up Dutch rather than 
English. So they concluded to go to America, where they 
could worship God as they thought would be pleasing to 
Him and bring up their boys and girls to be English men 
and women. King James w^ould not give them a char- 
ter, a parchment saying that they had a right to settle 
in America; but he said rather grudgingly that they 
might go if they wished, and so long as they "■ carried 
themselves peaceably," he would not molest them. 

Only a very hard-hearted ruler would have troubled 
these honest, earnest people, for they certainly had 
enough to bear. They had come in the middle of the 
winter to a wild country, full of unknown dangers. It 
was bitterly cold. Icy rain and snow and sleet fell upon 
them as if trying to drive them from the land. Food 
was none too plenty, and the captain was saying, " What- 
ever happens, I shall keep enough for my crew on the 
way back." The sailors muttered, " If they don't get a 
place soon, we '11 drop them and their goods on the 
shore and leave them." 



62 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

There was nothing to do but to search for a place at 
once, and a company of explorers set out. The one and 
only soldier among them was made the leader. His name 
was Miles Standish. They were put ashore near the 
end of Cape Cod; and, waving a farewell to their 
friends on board the Mayflower, started off boldly on 
their exploring trip. After going a mile or two, they 
saw five or six Indians and a dog. They were glad, for 
they hoped to make friends with them ; but the Indians 
whistled to the dog and ran into the woods. The next 
interesting sight was some heaps of earth that had evi- 
dently just been piled up, for they could see the marks 
of fingers where the Indians had patted and smoothed 
the sides. Within these mounds were big baskets of 
corn. They had never seen Indian corn befoi'e, but 
they knew it must be some kind of grain and good 
to eat. "Shall we take it?" they questioned. Finally 
they decided to carry it home, and, when they met the 
Indians, to pay them well for it. They saw rivers and 
ponds and deer and geese. They saw, too, a trap that 
had been set for deer; and before he knew it, one of 
the gallant explorers was caught by the leg and tossed 
up into the air. 

Again and again the colonists searched for a good 
place to make their home ; but when they returned to 
the Mayflower arid their friends called, " Have you 
found it yet ? " they could only say, " 'Not yet." At 




THE PILGRIMS ON THE MAYFLOWER 
From the painting by H. O. Walker in the State House at Boston 



64 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

last there came a day when they repHed, " We have 
found a place where the soil seems better than any we 
have seen before. It is marked ' Plymouth ' on John 
Smith's map. There is clay for bricks, good sand for 
mortar, and stone for wells and chimneys." 

" Is there any river ? " 

" ^ot large enough for boats, but there are several 
streams of good clear water." 

" Did you see any Indians ? " 

" No, but we saw clearings that looked as if they had 
planted corn there three or four years ago. The land 
rises from the water to a high hill. We climbed to the 
top, and we could see a long way over the country. 
That hill would be just the place to mount our cannon. 
There is a spring of good water on the hillside, and we 
can put our houses near it." 

There was no question that this was the best site they 
had found, and very soon a boat left the Mayflower, 
landed its passengers on a great rock at the water's 
edge, and went back for another load. There were no 
idlers at Plymouth; as soon as a man Avas set ashore, he 
went to work. The first thing to do was to build a log 
house large enough to hold their goods and to shelter the 
w omen and children from the rain — and those first w eeks 
it seemed to rain most of the time. The women, too, 
were hard at work, cooking at camp-fires; and even the 
little children ran about and gathered twigs for the fires. 



MILES STANDISH 65 

The Pilgrims, as they were called from their wander- 
ings, had heard frightfnl stories of the fierceness of 
the Indians, bnt there were other tronbles than fear of 
savages. Food was scanty and sickness came npon 
them. They had been in Plymouth only a month when 
Rose Standish, wife of the captain, died. He himself 
was well ; and " he went about from one bed to another, 
doing everything that he conld to he]p the sick and 
suffering. At last the spring came, but half of the 
whole number were dead. The Indians did not molest 
the white men, but it was plain that they were watching 
closely. '' How many camp-fires did you see last night ? " 
the settlers would ask those whose turn it had been to 
keep guard. The number grew larger night by night. 
The men worked as fast as they could to get their log 
huts done, so they could have some little protection, for 
they were afraid that the savages meant to unite and 
come in large numbers to attack them. They did not 
dare to raise mounds over the graves of those that died 
lest the Indians should count them and see how few 
were left. Sometimes in the darkness they could hear 
the yells of the savages. One day Miles Standish and 
another man left their axes in the woods Avhile they 
went home to dinner; and when they returned, they 
found that the Indians had stolen them. 

The colonists met to decide who should be their 
leader if the Indians should make an attack. There was 



66 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

not much question about it with one brave, well-trained 
soldier among them. Of course they chose Miles Stand- 
ish, and they all agreed to obey his orders. While they 
were talking, one of the men said softly, "Look — over 
on that hill ! " There stood two Indians beckoning, and 
Captain Standish and one other man went out boldly, 
hoping to make friends with them. They carried only 
one musket, and soon they laid that down to show that 
they were not enemies; but the two red men ran away. 
As the colonists stood and listened, they could hear the 
sound of many Indians running through the woods, but 
not one was to be seen. " The cannon must be mounted 
at once," declared the captain. So the three cannon 
were dragged to the top of the hill. 

The next Indian they saw, however, was not in the 
least afraid of them or their cannon. He walked boldly 
along close to the little houses ; and when the men stood 
before him with their guns, he did not turn back, but 
said cordially, " Welcome, Englishmen, welcome ! " He 
told them that his name was Samoset, that he had been 
near Monhegan Island and had learned a little English 
from the fishermen who went there. He was ready to 
tell all that he Iniew, and he knew many things that the 
colonists w^anted to hear. He said that some of the In- 
dians were angry with the English because an English 
captain had captured twenty-seven of their tribe and 
carried them away to Spain to sell as slaves. He talked 



MILES STANDISH 67 

all the afternoon except when he was eating, — no small 
part of the time. At dusk the English tried to say fare- 
well to him, but he said he was willing to stay all night. 
So they made him a bed; but they kept watch of him, 
for no one knew but he might be a spy. In the morning 
he said, " Good-by ; I am going to visit Massasoit, the 
chief of the Wampanoags." And he went away happy 
with a laiife, a bracelet, and a ring. 

It was not long before Samoset came again; and this 
time he brought a friend, Squanto, one of the very 
men who had been carried off by the Euglish cap- 
tain. A kind-hearted Englishman had rescued him and 
sent him home. Squanto could talk English very well. 
After a little while he said, '' Massasoit, chief of the 
Wampanoags, and sixty braves are coming to see you." 
And even while they were talking, Massasoit and his 
warriors came marching across the crest of a hill to the 
south of the settlement. '' They cannot come into the 
village," declared Captain Standish. Squanto went back 
and forth with messages, and it was decided that 
Massasoit and twenty braves, unarmed, might enter. To 
show the chieftain due honor, a drum was beaten, a 
trumpet was blown, and six muskets were fired. After 
a long talk, Massasoit and the whites agreed to be 
friends and to help each other in war if there should be 
need. 

It seemed as if need woidd soon come, for one day a 



68 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

strange Indian strode into the little village, bringing 
a bundle of arrows wrapped in a rattlesnake's skin. 
Squanto explained that Canonicns, King of the N^arra- 
gansetts, was angry because they had made friends with 
his enemy Massasoit and that the arrows meant war. 
"If he will have war, let him! " cried the captain; and 
he stuffed the snakeskin with bullets and powder. " Tell 
Canonicus," the settlers bade their messenger, " that we 
do not wish to fight, but if he does, we are ready for 
him." Canonicus was a badly frightened Indian when he 
saw the snakeskin. It seemed that Squanto had wished 
to give the impression that his English friends were all- 
powerful, and he had declared that they kept the plague 
in a box to let it loose when they chose. The chief was 
afraid it had come. 

But Canonicus's fright might not last long, so the 
captain decided that it was best to make the village 
stronger. They built a close high fence, or palisade, of 
stout posts around the group of houses, and the cap- 
tain reviewed his little army of forty-eight men and 
appointed an otficer for every twelve. They built a 
strong fort with a heavy flat roof on the top of the hill. 
This building was church as well as fort. When Sun- 
day morning came, the drum was beaten, and the men 
assembled before the captain's door, muskets in hand. 
They took their places three abreast. The last in the 
line was the governor, tall and dignified in his long 



MILES STANDISH 



69 



black robe. On his right hand the minister walked, 
and on his left strode Captain Standish. Behind them 
came the women and children. In this order they 
marched into the fort and seated themselves, each man 
with his musket beside him. Over their heads, on the 




PILGRIMS GOING TO CHURCH 
From a painting by G. H. Boughton 

thick flat roof, the cannon were mounted ; and so they 
were ready either to listen to the sermon or to fight the 
Indians if an attack was made. 

The colonists had to be on their guard all the time; 
but although there had been many alarms, there had 
been no fighting since they had landed at Plymouth. 
The Indians knew that their only hope of getting the 
better of the whites was by sm*prising them, and they 
never could surprise the captain, for he was always 



70 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

ready for an attack. He showed them that he wished 
to be friendly, but that he would not be imposed upon; 
and once Avhen a sachem, or under-chief, had seized 
Squanto, he had set out in the night with but ten men, 
dashed into the large wigwam, and demanded either his 
friend Squanto or the sachem who had murdered him. 
The story of his courage went from one tribe to an- 
other, and many sachems sent messengers to ask for the 
friendship of the whites. 

The Pilgrims were so fair and just to the Indians 
that they would perhaps have had little trouble with 
them, had it not been for some new companies of colo- 
nists that came from England and settled near them. 
Many of these newcomers were dishonest. They cheated 
and abused the Indians shamefully. " We will kill them 
all," said the red men. 

" But the little captain at Plymouth," objected one, 
" he and his men will avenge them." 

" "We will kill him and his friends at Plymouth, too," 
declared the plotters. 

The Pilgrims heard of this, and they said, " We must 
fight." Then Captain Standish and eight men set out 
for the new settlement. Soon four Indians came boldly 
up to the house where he and four other Englishmen 
were Avaiting. " We are not afraid of your little captain," 
cried the red men. " He thinks he can kill us, but let 
him try." They pushed into the house, and the other In- 



MILES STANDISH 71 

dians crowded around it. " Go and live with the women, 
little captain," they called, " you are no fighter ! " One 
of them began to whet his knife. " My knife eats, it does 
not speak," he said. Then the " little captain," as strong 
and wiry as he was slender, sprang upon the tall savage, 
caught his knife away from him, and killed him with his 
owai weapon. Two of the others were also killed, and 
one carried away as prisoner. This was the first time 
that an Indian had been slain by the Pilgrims. It was 
the custom in England then to put the heads of crimi- 
nals on posts in some public place to serve as a warning 
to all who passed by; so the head of the Indian leader 
was put up on the fort. 

As the years passed, many other colonists came to 
Plymouth. More land was needed, and some of the 
settlers moved to places near by where they found fer- 
tile ground. Captain Standish and the minister, Elder 
Brewster, made homes for themselves nine miles to the 
north of Plymouth. The home of the captain's ances- 
tors in England was called Duxbury, and this name was 
given to his new abode across the bay. There the two 
friends cut down the trees, and cleared fields for plow- 
ing. Whenever there was any trouble, however, the 
Pilgrims always sent for the captain, and he was ready 
for whatever must be done. 

Once he had to leave his peaceful home to fight with 
the Pequots of Connecticut. These Pequots, the fiercest 



72 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

warriors of the wilderness, were determined to destroy 
the whites. They began by hanging around the settle- 
ments, and often when a few men went out to work in 
the woods or the fields, these savages would seize them 
and put them to death with most fearful tortures. The 
colonies decided to uiiite and strike one blow that should 
end such deeds. Plymouth sent fifty soldiers, and of 
course Captain Standish was called upon to lead them. 
The Pequots had built a strong palisade around their 
houses; but the English came upon them in the dark, 
got possession of the two entrances, and set fire to the 
fort. ^Nearly all the Pequots perished. It was a dread- 
ful scene, but it freed the settlers from all trouble with 
the Indians for forty years. 

The last days of Miles Standish passed quietly and 
happily. It was not at all lonely at his house on " Cap- 
tain's Hill," for he had married a second time, and he had 
four sons and a daughter. Besides Elder Brewster, John 
Alden and others of his friends made their homes near 
him. Among them was his faithful Indian friend, Hob- 
bomak, who built himself a wigwam near the house of 
his captain. When he grew old and feeble, the stern 
fighter of the red men took the red man to his own 
house, and cared for him tenderly to the end of his 
life. 



PETER STITYYESANT 73 

OUTLINE 

The hard voyage of the colonists — why they had come to Amer- 
ica — their troubles on reaching land — searching for a home — 
Plymouth — landing at Plymouth — hunger and sickness — fear 
of the Indians — choosing a captain — going to meet the Indians 

— the coming of Samoset — what he told the white men — 
Squanto — the visit of Massasoit — the message of Canonicus — 
the settlers' reply — Canonicus's fright — the settlers prepare for 
war — going to church — why the settlers were not attacked — 
the rescue of Squanto — the new colonists make trouble — the 
" little captain " fights with the Indians — the founding of Duxbury 

— the war with the Pequots — the last days of Miles Standish. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A Puritan boy writes home of his first day at Plymouth, 
Samoset describes his first visit to Plymouth. 
Two pilgrims talk together in Holland about going to America : 
oiie wishes to go, the other does not. 



PETER STUYYESANT 

LAST DUTCH GOYERNOR OF NEW YORK 

WHILE England was sending colonists to Vir- 
ginia, and France was making a settlement on 
the St. Lawrence, another European country was plan- 
ning not to be shut out of the IvTew World. This was 
Holland. One of her ships under Henry Hudson ex- 



74 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

plored the Hudson River, and soon the Dutch founded 
trading posts along its banks, and extended them ahnost 
as far south as where Philadelphia now stands. All this 
country between the Hudson and the Delaware they 
called ^ew ^etherland. Their most flourishing settle- 
ment was on Manhattan Island. This was named New 
Amsterdam. One morning in May, 1647, there w as great 
excitement in the little Dutch village. All the people 
put on their Sunday clothes and went down to the bank 
of the East River. " He 's coming ! " cried some one, 
and they were so glad that they all shouted their wel- 
come, though the vessel was much too far away for 
the new governor to hear them. It came slowly u^) the 
East River and anchored off the fort. Then the cannon 
blazed out a greeting; the people shouted louder than 
ever; the governor was rowed ashore and marched up 
the street to the ,fort in all the glories of gold lace 
and ruffles, drum and fife, and an escort of soldiers. 
" He came like a peacock, with great state and pomp," 
wrote some one of his arrival. 

This governor, Peter Stuyvesant, made a speech to 
the people. " I shall rule you as a father rules his chil- 
dren," he said. They all cheered, for they did not know 
that he meant that he should do exactly as he chose 
and that they must obey him. He began b}^ making laws 
and seeing to it that they were enforced. He forbade 
selling liquor to the Indians. "Whoever broke this law 



I 



PETER STUYVESANT 75 

had to pay for all the damage that the drunken Indian 
might do. It was forbidden to build any more wooden 
chimneys. When a house was burned, four fire-wardens 
were to look into the matter. If they decided that the 
owner had been care- 
less, he had to pay a 
fine besides losing his 
house. This fine went 
to hel]3 buy hooks and 
ladders and leather 
fire-buckets for future 
emergencies. 

The colony grew 
fast, and after a while 
it began to call itself 
a city. It was a very 
quiet, village-like lit- 
tle city, even though 
it was giving up its 
wooden buildings and 
thatched roofs. Every 
citizen who could af- 
ford it made the end of his house which fronted the 
street of little yellow and black bricks l)rought from 
Holland and arranged in checker-board fashion. The 
roofs were gorgeous with yellow and black tiles. These 
Dutchmen liked plenty of room for themselves and their 




PETER STUYVESANT 



76 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

homes, and eveiy one wanted to have around his house 
a garden where he could raise vegetables and flowers 
and plant the tulip bulbs that came from Holland. He 
wanted a horse, a cow, some hens, and a pig or two. 
Every morning the town herdsman drove the cows to 
pasture; and every night he drove them back, leaving 
each cow at her own gate, and blowing a horn to let 
her master know she had come. 

Within the house, there was one room that was kept 
sacred from common use. This .was the parlor, and 
there the household treasures were collected. Car- 
pets had not yet come into use, but fine sand was first 
sprinkled upon the floor and then a broom was drawn 
over it lightly in graceful figures. There was a high- 
posted bedstead in the parlor, heaped up with a thick 
feather bed, which only the skillful housewife knew how 
to make round and smooth. There was a down quilt, 
and there were heavy curtains and a valance. Two other 
pieces of furniture were the special pride of the good 
housekeeper. One was a solid oaken chest. When the 
lid was raised there was a gleam of snowy linen, spun 
and woven by the busy hands of the women of the house- 
hold, and bleached on the grass to a dazzling whiteness. 
The second was a cupboard, always made with glass 
doors, for its duty was not to hide the silver and por- 
celain but to show it. There were no rocking chairs 
or sofas in the D.utch parlor, or anywhere else in the 



PETER STUYVESANT 77 

house for that matter; and how the good people could 
ever have felt comfortable, as they sat up straight 




NEW AMSTERDAM IN STUYVESANT'S TIME 

and stiff in the leather-covered, high-backed chairs, is a 
mystery. 

The parlor was used on festive occasions only; the 
kitchen was the home room. There was the immense 
fireplace with pothooks and crane. There were dressers 
with I'ows of pewter plates and mugs and porringers 
that must never be allowed to become dull if their mis- 
tress hoped to be called a good housekeeper. There was 
a heavy square dining table, wide and roomy, for the 
Dutch wives and daug-hters knew well how to cook deli- 



78 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

cioiis dishes, and the husbands and sons knew how to 
appreciate them. 

Those early New Yorkers were sociable people, and 
they did not by any means give all their time to s])inning 
and cooking and planting gardens. There were quilt- 
ings and huskings and apple-paring bees; there were 
birthday parties and weddings; there were parties at 
New Year and Easter and Christmas and between times. 
When one was to take place, the gentlemen made them- 
selves gorgeous in their coats of silk or plush or velvet, 
trimmed with lace and big, round silver buttons. These 
coats came down almost to their ankles. Their shoes 
were fastened with broad silver buckles. The ladies wore 
jackets, and skirts which were almost as short as the 
men's coats were long. These skirts were quilted in 
patterns until they were fairly stiff with the stitching. 
Below the skirt were home-knit stockings of red or blue 
or green, and high-heeled shoes. Rings and brooches 
were much Avorn ; Imt the one ornament that every Dutch 
lady felt she really could not do without was gold beads, 
strings upon strings of them, to wind about her neck. 

The great merrymaldng of the year was at Christmas. 
The Pilgrims had seen that holiday made the excuse for 
so much drinking and low amusement in England that 
they were determined to have no Christmas celebrations ; 
but the Dutch saw no reason why both grown-ups and 
children should not enjoy the day, or rather, days, for 



n 



PETER STUYVESANT 79 

one was not nearly enough for the general jollity 
and merriment. No one did any more work than was 
really necessary during that time. The night before 




A DUTCH HOUSE ON SANTA CLAUS MORNING 

Christmas the children all hung up their stockings in 
the chimney corner. Then they joined hands and sang 
a song to Santa Claus which ended, 

" If you '11 to me a present give, 
I '11 serve you truly while I live." 



80 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

As the years passed, there was more silver plate in 
the houses and handsomer furniture was brought from 
Holland. There were velvet chairs, watches, clocks, 
silken gowns, jewelry, broadcloth suits, embroidered 
purses, shirts and neckcloths trimmed with lace, and 
breeches made of silk and flowered with silver and gold. 
More colonists had come, and 'New Amsterdam was 
quite a different place in 1664 from what it haS. been 
in 1647 when the whole village turned out to welcome 
the new governor. For seventeen years he had ruled 
the Dutch town, and he had done well by it, for he was 
honest and he meant to do what he thought was for the 
best. He had treated the Indians kindly but firmly, and 
there had been little trouble with them. Difficulties 
were soon to appear, however. One day a young man 
who had just come from Boston to New Amsterdam 
told the governor some startling news. " King Charles 
of England has given this land to his brother James, 
the Duke of York," he said, " and there is a rumor 
that a fleet of armed vessels is already on the way to 
take possession of it." 

Then there was excitement from one end of the Dutch 
city to the other. The governor l:)ought powder and food 
and did his best to strengthen his fortifications. He had 
but one hundred soldiers, one little fort, a few guns and 
a small supply of powder. The three-foot wall of earth 
and the crumbling wooden palisade might help to keep 



PETER STUYVESANT 81 

out the arrows of the Indians, but they would be small 
protection against King Charles's cannon balls. Still the 
governor had no thought of surrender. He " stumped" 
about from one place to another, giving orders to the 
men who were working on the fortifications, sometimes 
encouraging them, sometimes storming at them for their 
slowness, and stamping angrily with his wooden leg. 

The fleet came. Colonel Nichols, who was in com- 
mand, took possession of a blockhouse on Staten Island 
and landed some of his soldiers on Long Island. Then 
the governor sent a formal demand to know what this 
behavior might mean. The colonel in reply ordered 
him to surrender. " Yield peaceably, and I promise 
freedom and his property to every citizen," he said. 
Xow 'Ne^N Amsterdam had become so well-to-do that 
many English had come there to live, and of course 
they preferred to be under the English king. Even the 
Dutch believed that the company had not treated them 
fairly, and so they did not feel very unhappy at the 
thonght of having a new ruler. Certainly they would 
rather live under English rule than have their homes 
destroyed by English soldiers. The Council urged the 
governor to surrender, but he said no. The citizens 
begged him to yield. Still he declared, " I won't sur- 
render." 

While they were talking, Colonel I^ichols sent an- 
other letter, promising that, if they would yield, the 



82 A^IERICAN HERO STORIES 

trade with Holland should go on as usual, and settlers 
should come from that country as freely as ever. The 
governor knew very well that if the people saw that 
letter they would refuse to fight, so he would not read 
it to them. A rumor then went through the city, " The 
English have sent a letter offering good terms," and a 
crowd gathered around the council room. Even the 
men who were at work on the defenses dropped their 
tools and ran crying, " The letter, the letter ! Show us 
the letter!" 

" The letter must be read to them," said the Comicil. 

" It shall never be ! " roared the governor, pounding 
the floor with his wooden leg and tearing the letter into 
pieces. 

" Show us the letter ! " the crowd still called. The 
secretary picked up the pieces and put them together, 
and it was read aloud from the steps of the building. 

The governor wrote a strong, manly reply to Colonel 
I^ichols, saying that the Dutch had discovered ]N"ew 
^N'etherland, had bought it of the Indians, had settled 
upon it; and surely it belonged to them. He trained his 
guns on the English ships, and he marched down to the 
landing, ready with his hundred soldiers to fight five or 
six times that number. The ships had ninety-four gmis, 
and the colonists had about twenty. The gunners on 
the vessels and the gunners on the land stood waiting 
the signal to fire. Then a j^aper was brought to the 



PETER STUYVESANT 83 

governor, signed by all the princijDal citizens, his own 
son among them, begging him not to allow the destruc- 
tion of the town. Women crowded about him, weeping 
and praying him to save their homes. Little children 
clung to him and cried, " Save us, save us ! " 

" I would rather be carried out to my grave," cried 
the dauntless governor; but he was helpless, for the 
people refused to obey his orders. The white flag of 
surrender was finally rmi up, and the governor marched 
out of the fort at the head of his men with flags flying 
and drums beating. Down on the shore the English 
soldiers were already drawn up in line, and soon the 
English flag was floating over Fort Amsterdam, which 
now became Fort James. The town had saved its 
houses, but it had lost its name; it was no longer 
]^ew Amsterdam, but in honor of the Duke of York it 
was called A^ew York, and Colonel Nichols became its 
governor. 

Whether the town was English or Dutch, Governor 
Stuyvesant had no idea of leaving it. He owned a large 
bowery, or farm, and there he spent his last years. 
He had fine horses and cattle and the best of fruit 
trees. He had a prim flower garden laid out in stiff 
regular beds. Behind the garden was the roomy 
two-story house to which he delighted to welcome his 
friends — and among them was his old enemy. Colonel 
Nichols ! 



84 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

OUTLINE 

The Dutch settle in America — the coming of the new governor 

— his speech — his laws — description of the Dutch houses and 
gardens — the parlor — the kitchen — social pleasures — the com- 
ing of luxuries — the rule of Governor Stuyvesant — startling news 
from England — fortifying the town — Colonel Nichols's demand 

— feelings of the citizens — Nichols's second letter — Stuyvesant's 
refusal to have it read to the people — his reply to Nichols — the 
citizens' petition — surrender — Stuyvesant and his howery. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

The coming of Governor Stuyvesant. 
A visit to a home in New Amsterdam. 
Governor Stuyvesant descrihes the surrender. 



KING PHILIP 

CHIEF OF THE WAMPANOAGS 

IT will be remembered that before the Pilgrims had 
been long in Plymonth, Massasoit, chief of the 
Wampanoags, paid them a visit. He promised to be 
their friend, and that promise was never broken. 

One day a little brown-skinned baby was born in his 
wigwam. A white mother wonld have bought her baby 
a cradle, but an Indian mother would have said, "No, a 
cradle is not safe, it may tip over. It is heavy, too, 
and I want to carry my baby with* me wherever I go." 



KING PHILIP 85 

So this child, like other Indian children, was rolled 
in soft furs and bound to a board a little larger than 
himself. A hoop, or a sort of hood, was put up above his 
head; and then, even if the board had a hard fall, the 
baby was not hurt. Little playthings hung from the 
hoop; but he had small need of them, for there were 
always so many interesting things to watch. 

When his father had gone out to hunt that they might 
have food, his mother would go into the forest for wood; 
and while she was gathering it, the board and the baby 
hung on the l^ranch of a tree. The l3reeze swayed them 
to and fro, the green leaves fluttered and glittered in 
the sunshine. The squirrels chattered all around him; 
sometimes the birds lighted on the branches near him 
and looked curiously to see what kind of bird he was 
and what kind of nest that strange cradle could be. 
Then when his mother was tired and sat down under 
the tree to rest, she sang him songs about the bravest 
men of his tribe, how they had saved their people in 
time of war and how many of their enemies they had 
slain. '^ By and by, my little Metacomet," she would 
say, " you, too, will be a brave fighter. You must lead 
your people on the warpath, and you must ncA er yield." 

When Metacomet grew older, he found that there 
were many things for him to learn. Stories were told 
him of deeds of courage, and he must remember them 
and be able to tell them again. He must learn to use a 



86 



AMERICAN HERa STORIES 



bow and arrow. " You must shoot straight and quickly," 
his father would say, " and you must not give your 
enemy a chance to shoot first." He must learn the dif- 
ference between the footprints made by the moccasins 
of his own people and those made by other tribes. He 




METACOMET LEARNING HIS LESSONS 

must learn how to put on the wai- paint and what the 
different colors meant. He must learn not to scream 
when he was frightened or to cry when he was liurt. 
He must not whine for fire if he was cold or for food 
if he was hungry. He had no books about plants and 
animals, but he must learn about them. He must know 
which roots were good to eat, on which side of the trees 
the moss grew thickest, how to tell the marks made in 



I 



KING PHILIP 87 

the bark of a tree by a bear from those made by a moose, 
how far a wildcat could spring, and how to escape from a 
rattlesnake. He must learn to make nooses and snares, 
to hunt and to fish; not for amusement by any means, 
but because when he became a man and had a wife and 
children, they would starve if he could not bring them 
anything to eat from the forest. 

Even in his games the Indian boy was ever learning 
to be strong and skillful and to make his own way in 
life. The boys wrestled, they ran races, they had shoot- 
ing and swimming matches and sham battles. The older 
people were always interested in these contests. If a 
boy had won in a swimming race, for instance, some 
one would be sure to remember that one of his family 
had been a great sw^immer and would say to him, " The 
brother of your grandfather could swim well. He be- 
came a mighty warrior. We will see what you will do." 
Then the little Indian boy was happy indeed, and he 
made up his mind to be a greater wari-ior than any of 
his family. 

So Jt was that the little son of Massasoit grew up. 
The white people had come to Massachusetts long before 
he was .born, and he, together with his older brother, 
Wamsutta, must have gone many a time to their settle- 
ments. When Massasoit died, Wamsutta became chief 
in his father's place, and he, too, was friendly with the 
people at Plymouth. The Indians had bought guns of 



88 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

the whites before this, and Wamsutta and Metacomet 
used to go to them to buy powder. They told their 
Plymouth friends that they would like to have names 
like those of the white people. Then the Plymouth 
court chose for them the names of two heroes of ancient 
times, and declared that Wamsutta should be called 
Alexander and Metacomet should be called Philip. 

The whites never felt as sure of Alexander's friend- 
ship as they had felt of his father's; and after a Avhile 
reports began to come to them which said, " Alexander 
is friendly with the Narragansetts. Beware ! " Massa- 
soit's tribe and the I^arragansetts had long been bitter 
enemies. " If they and Alexander have become friends," 
thought the whites, " it must be that they are planning 
to attack us." So they sent to the chief a request to 
come to Plymouth and explain what this meant. He 
came, ])ut on the way he was taken sick, and a few days 
later he died. This sudden illness seemed very myste- 
rious to Philip, and he suspected that his brother had 
been poisoned. 

Philip was noAv chief of the Wampanoags. ^Every 
little while the English heard that he was not their 
friend. " He said he wanted the land back that his tribe 
had sold to the white men," declared one. ''Many In- 
dians from other tribes are coming to see him," said 
another, " and they have long councils together." " The 
young men among the Wampanoags and the ^NTarragan- 



KING PHILIP 89 

setts want to fight and show themselves as brave as 
their fathers," said still another. 

The colonists talked over these things. Then they 
asked Philip to make a treaty of peace; but he seems 




A FANCIFUL PORTRAIT OF KING PHILIP 
By Paul Revere 

not to have kept it very well, for three or four years 
later he was asked to make another. Then he replied 
proudly, " Your governor is but a subject of King 



90 A3IERICAX HERO STORIES 

Charles of England. I shall not treat with a subject. 
I shall treat of peace only with the king, my brother, 
^^hen he comes, I am ready." 

Pliilip lived at Mount Hope, and not far from his 
home was the little ^dllage of Swanze}'. One day in 
1675, men from Swanze}^ came galloping into Boston 
for help. " The Indians ! " they cried, " the Lidians are 

upon us ! They have 
^^yf/^^^^J3 a.£aj,^*^^^<^ C(y/)tSl' ^^t fire to two houses 

• both Boston and Plym- 

KTS'G PHILIP'S yiARK , 

outh sent messengers 
straight to King Philip. '• Yom- men have broken the 
treaty," they were to say. '' Send us the ones who 
burned those houses, that we may pimish them, or there 
will be war at once I " The men never gave their mes- 
sage to King Philip, for when they came near Swanzey 
they saw that war had already broken out. The savages 
had attacked the town, and mmxlered men, women, and 
Uttle children. 

Then there was no more dela}. ]Men set out from 
Boston and Plymouth for Momit Hope, and marched 
night and day. Philip had no idea that any one would 
attack him so soon, and he was quietly eating his dinner 
when the English burst in upon him. He fled, but the 
Enghsh pursued him so closely that one man caught 
the chief's cap from his head, just as he was run- 



KING PHILIP 91 

ning into a swamp, where the English could not follow 
him. 

This was the beginning of fierce war. One place 
after another was attacked by the Indians. At Brook- 
field, Massachusetts, there was one large house so»much 
stronger than the others that all the whites crowded into 
it. The Indians fired through the walls ; they tied long 
poles together with burning rags on the end, and tried to 
get near enough to set fire to the house. But the bul- 
lets of the men within drove them back. They tied the 
burning rags to arrows, and shot them up into the air, 
so they would fall on the roof and kindle it; but the 
people in the garret cut through the roof, and put out 
the fires. Then they built a rude sort of platform sev- 
eral yards long, put ha}^, chips, and flax on the end, set 
the mass afire, and, using a barrel for a wheel, rolled it 
with long poles toward the house. The Indians were 
sheltered by the planks, and the bullets of the white 
men could not touch them. The fire was too large to be 
put out by throwing water upon it from the windows. 
" We can do nothing more," groaned the brave defend- 
ers. " But see, God himself is coming to our help ! '' 
cried one, for a thick cloud was hanging over them, 
and suddenly a heavy rain began to fall. The fires went 
out ; and before the Indians could make any new attack, 
soldiers came, and they fled. 

The Connecticut River was the " far west " in those 



92 AMERICAN PIERO STORIES 

days, and the little villages near its banks were in terrible 
danger. Springfield, Hatfield, Deerfield, Hadley, and 
many others were attacked by the savages. A strange 
story is told of the attack on Hadley. It was a fast 
day, and all the people were in church. In the midst 
of the prayer, they heard the awful warwhoop of the 
Indians. The men rushed out with their guns, but the 
Indians were here, there, and everywhere ; there seemed 
to be thousands of them. It was all so sudden that for 
an instant the men were dazed and stood staring and 
clutching their weapons. One more instant, and the 
savages would have been upon them. Suddenly a tall, 
white-bearded man appeared. He had the .bearing of a 
military commander, and in a moment the men of Hadley 
found themselves obeying his orders. They formed in 
line, shot, and charged; the Indians ran, and Hadley 
was saved. They turned back to their leader, but he 
was gone. " Who was he ? " they asked, but no one had 
ever seen him before. They never saw him again, and 
when in after years they told their children of him, they 
said in hushed and reverent voices, " It was an angel 
from heaven." 

The next that was known of Philip, he and his men 
attacked the little village of Lancaster. The people 
there had been told by spies that the Indians meant 
to l3urn their town, and they had sent their minister 
to Boston, thirty-five miles away, to ask for soldiers to 



94 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

protect them. The soldiers were coming, but the Indians 
came sooner. Just at snnrise the terrible warwhoop was 
heard. In a few hours the English troops arrived, but 
the village had been burned, many people killed, and 
many others carried away as prisoners. Among these 
was the wife of the minister. " We will not kill her," 
they said. " She is the Avife of the great medicine man 
of the village. He will pay us well by and by to get her 
again." They treated her as well as they could, for if 
she died they would lose the ransom that they hoped 
to get. IS^evertheless, she had a very hard time. At first 
there was j^lenty to eat, for they had stolen from Lan- 
caster all that they could carry away. Soon, however, 
the food gave out, and they had to eat acorns, roots, 
pounded bones, the bark of trees, and any kind of ani- 
mal they could catch or shoot. Once she had a feast. 
Philip's little son, a boy of nine of whom he was very 
fond, was with him. " "Will you make my boy a cap ? " 
he asked his prisoner. "Yes," she replied, and soon the 
little fellow was strutting about in it. Then the father in 
payment invited her to dinner, and gave her a pancake 
" about as big as two fingers." She said afterwards, 
" It Avas made of parched aa heat, beaten, and fi-ied in 
bear's grease ; but I thought I never tasted pleasanter 
meat in my life." After three months of this w^ander- 
ing, she Avas ransomed for about one hundred dollars, 
and given up to her husband in Boston. 



KING PHILIP 95 

At last Philip was pursued to his old home at Mount 
Hope. The only way that he could escape by land was 
by a narrow isthmus, and that the English held. One of 
the chief's men said to him, "We cannot get away; we 
must yield." But this unyielding chieftain was so angry 
that with a single blow of his tomahawk he killed the 
man who had advised surrender. This man's brother 
slipped away from his chief and went to the English. 
" Philip has killed my brother. I can tell you where he 
is," he said. Without a moment's delay, the English 
marched upon the hiding-place of the chief. " When he 
tries to escape, he will have to go by this spot," said the 
commander, and he ordered an Englishman and the In- 
dian deserter to watch for him. Soon they saw him run- 
ning at full speed, and both men fired. The white man's 
gun missed fire, but the Indian's bullet went straight, 
and the chief fell dead. It woidd have broken his heart 
if he had known the fate of his little boy, for the child 
was sent with hundreds of other captives to the West 
Indies and sold as a slave. He was the last of the race 
of Massasoit, the faithful friend of the Englishmen. 

OUTLINE 

The treatment of little Metacomet — what he learned — his 
games — Massasoit's sons and the Pilgrims — new names for the 
Indians — the whites suspect Alexander — his death — why the 
whites distrusted Philip — the treaty of peace — the attack on 
Swanzey — the whites march to Mount Hope — the repulse at 



96 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

Brookfleld — the commander at Hadley — A prisoner among the 
Indians — death of Philip — fate of his son. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Metacomet and a white boy tell each other what they have to 
learn. 

The two boys describe their games. 

A Brookfield colonist describes the Indian attack. 



THE MEN WHO EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI 

IN 1675. at the time of King Philip's War, there were 
colonies in all the states bordering- on the Atlantic 
from Maine to South Carolina, and they were all sub- 
ject to England. Most of the French settlements were 
on the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. The 
Indians had told the French of a mighty stream to 
the southward; and w^henever a group of Frenchmen 
were sitting around the fire some long evening in the 
little village of Montreal, some one was sure to ask, 
"Where do you suppose the Mississippi River emp- 
ties?" 

" The men who went with the Spaniard De Soto de- 
clared that it emptied into the Gulf of Mexico," one 
would reply. Another would retort, " That tale is a 
hundred years old. De Soto went off on a wild-goose 
chase to search for gold. He did not find any, and of 



THE MEN WHO EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI 97 

course his men had to tell some big story when they 
came back." Then another would say more thought- 
fully, " The Indians who live to the west of us declare 
that far to the west of them are strange people who 
have no beards. They must be Chinese, and I believe 
that the Mississippi flows into the Pacific Ocean. What 
fortunes we could make if we could only find that river 
and trade with China ! " 

" Who knows whether there is any river V " another 
would demand laughingly. " The Indians talk about ' big 
water,' but who can tell whether they mean a great river 
or the ocean ? " 

There was a yomig man named Robert la Salle who 
was so much interested in this mysterious sti'eam that 
he thought of it by day and dreamed of it by night. At 
last he made up his mind to go in search of it. He* had 
little money to pay for canoes and provisions and pre- 
sents for the Indians through whose country he must 
pass, but he owned some land eight or nine miles from 
Montreal. So he sold it and started on his exploring 
trip. Through the forest and down the Ohio he made 
his way. Then his men refused to go any farther, and 
he had' to return to Canada. Every one laughed at him. 
" There 's the man who went to China," they said. 
They pointed out the land that he had sold, saying, 
" There 's La Salle's China," or La CJmie, as it is in 
French. 



98 AMERICAN HERO 'STORIES 

Even though this expedition had failed, it made people 
think more about the unknown i^iver, and finally Gov- 
ernor Frontenac determined to send explorers in search 
of it. The men whom he chose were Louis Joliet, a 
fur trader, and Father Marquette, a priest. All that the 
two men did to prepare for their long journey was to 
buy two birch-bark canoes, some smoked meat, and 
Indian corn. Five men were engaged to go with them, 
and they set out. They hoped to find Indians to show 
them the way; and surely they needed guides, for their 
only map was one that they had drawn as best they 
could from the stories of the red men. 

The}^ went west as far as Green Bay, at the northern 
end of Lake Michigan. The Indians who lived there 
were friendly. After they had feasted the strangers, 
they asked, "Where are you going. Frenchmen?" 

" We are going to find the great river, the Missis- 
sippi," they replied. 

" O Frenchmen," the Indians pleaded, " do not go 
there. The tribes whose wigwams are on the banks of 
that river are terrible. They kill every one who comes 
near them. There is an evil spirit, too, that lives in a 
great gulf of waters, and he will drag you down into 
his den." 

" We are Christians," replied Marquette, " and evil 
spirits cannot hurt Christians." 

'' There are two dreadful monsters that stay on a 



THE MEN WHO EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI 



99 



great rock beside the river," continued the Indians. 
" They will eat you and your canoes." 

" ^ot when we show them this," replied Marquette, 
holding his crucifix high up before the red men. " If 
you will listen to me, I will tell you hoAv you may go 
among monsters and not be harmed." Then he told 




THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI BY MARQUETTE 

From a painting by J. N. Marchand 

them about the religion of Christ and taught them to 
say a prayer. 

The explorers said good-by and went on their way. 
Soon they came to another little Indian village. In the 

Lore 



100 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

midst of the cluster of wigwams stood a great cross. 
Furs and bows and arrows and red belts w^ere hangins: 
on it. " What does that mean? " Joliet asked. 

" The cross belongs to the God of the Frenchmen," 
the Indians replied. " We heard of him from a Black 
Robe like you," and they turned to Marquette. " We had 
plenty of food last winter, and so we have given him 
offerings because we are grateful. But where are you 
going? " 

"My friend, the Black Robe, is going to tell the Indians 
about God," answered Joliet, " and I am going to search 
for the Mississippi River and explore new countries so 
I can tell our governor at home about them. Will you 
give us guides to show us the way? " 

" Yes," they cried, and soon the Frenchmen had left 
the little village far behind them. 

At last they w ere in the " big w^ater," the mighty 
river that they had come to discover. Every night they 
ran their canoes ashore, built a fire, and slept. Every 
day they floated onward. It was a w^onderful country 
that they were passing through. June had come, and 
everything was fresh and bright. There were beautiful 
groves, dense forests, prairies, cliffs, and great masses 
of tangled grapevines. There w^ere flowers of all colors. 
Buffaloes and deer and many other animals stared at 
them from the river banks. Strange fishes bumped 
against their canoes. One morning when they w ere near 



THE MEN WHO EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI 101 

the shore, one of the company cried snddenly, " See, 
those are men's f ootprmts there In the mud ! " " And 
that is surely a path," said another. " It must lead to 
an Indian village." " We will go and see," declared 
the two leaders. After they had walked up the path 
for nearly six miles, they caught sight of a group of 
wigAvams. They shouted so that the Indians might 
know they were coming as friends and not trying to 
surprise them. In a moment the whole village, men, 
women, and children, had run out of doors to see who 
had come. Four tall, dignified men came' toward the 
explorers, holding up two peace pipes. That meant, 
" Let us be friends," and so they all walked together 
into the village. The chief made a speech of wel- 
come, and after that the whole company of Indians es- 
corted the strangers to another village where a greater 
chief lived. Then there was speechmaking indeed. The 
second chief told them the smi shone brighter and 
the whole earth was more beautiful because they had 
come. " You have even made our river calm," he 
declared, " for your canoes removed the rocks as you 
came." There was a feast, of course, and then the 
travelers w^ent away. 

"When they had floated on to where the city of Alton, 
Illinois, now stands, they looked up on a high cliff, and 
there were the monsters that the Indians had told them 
about. These monsters were figures painted on the 



102 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

rock. Their faces were a little like those of men, but 
their bodies were scaly and ended like the tails of fish. 
They had horns and fiery red eyes. A little farther on, 
the Frenchmen heard the roar of the evil spirit that they 
had been told about. That was made by the water 
rushing among the rocks in a little bay. Then they 
came to the mouth of the Missouri, and there they found 
something worse than painted monsters to be afraid of, 
for the river plunged so madly into the Mississippi that 
the little canoes were tossed and whirled about and 
almost overturned in the flood. 

Still the explorers went on till they had come to where 
the Arkansas Indians lived. " You 'd better not go any 
farther," said they. " There are tribes to the south of 
us who will kill you. They do not shoot with bows and 
arrows, but with fire-sticks like yours that they have 
bought of the Spaniards." The French leaders talked 
together about what was best to do. "We may be sure 
that the river empties into the Gulf of Mexico," they 
said. '' If we go on any farther, we shall certainly be 
captured by the Indians or the Spaniards. Let us go 
back to Canada and tell the governor what we have 
seen." It was a hard journey, for now there was no 
easy floating, but instead many hundred miles of pad- 
dling upstream. For eleven weeks they toiled, and at 
last they were again at Green Bay. Marquette was 
ill and could not go any farther for a long while, but 



THE MEN WHO EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI 103 

Joliet went on and told Governor Frontenac of all the 
wonders they had seen. 

Of coui'se La Salle was much interested in Joliet's 
report, and a few years later he had a plan to propose 
to the governor. " Let us build a line of forts along the 
Mississippi," he said, "and put a strong colony at its 
mouth. Then neither the Spanish nor the English can 
buy furs of the Indians along the river. France will 
have all that fur trade, and we ourselves shall become 
rich men." 

La Salle went to France to ask the king for leave to 
build forts, and the king told him he might build as 
many as he chose. As soon as he came back, he made 
ready for a journey to the mouth of the Mississippi. 
" Will 3^ou go with us ? " he asked a number of Lidians. 

" Yes," was the answer, " but braves do not cook. 
We must have our squaws to cook for us." 

" The squaws may go," La Salle agreed. 

" But they will not go without their children," de- 
clared the Lidians. 

So it was that betAveen fifty and sixty persons, white 
men, red men, women, and children, set off. Joliet had 
gone in the spring, but now it was the depth of winter, 
and until they reached the place where St. Louis now 
stands, they had to drag their canoes and provisions on 
sledges over the ice and snow. Glad enough they were 
when at last they could get into their boats and float 



104 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

down the stream. Once they were badly startled. A 
dense fog had set in. They were close to the shore, 
when suddenly they heard loud yells and the beating 
of an Indian drum. " That means a war dance," said 
the explorers. " Let us cross to the other side." They 
crossed, and worked with all their might to build a rude 
fort of logs for fear the savages would attack them. 
All in a moment the fog cleared away, and across 
the river they saw the Indians, who stood listening to 
the strange sounds and wondering what they could be. 
These Indians were all ready to be friendly. Another 
tribe showed La Salle a most unusual honor, for, as he 
was not well, the chief himself came in all state to visit 
the white man. The master of ceremonies walked first, 
followed by six tall Indians to make sure that the way 
was clear. Then came two men carrying great fans of 
white feathers, and one man with a Inroad copper disk 
that shone and gleamed in the sunshine. After all these 
the chief aj^peared, dressed in a fine white blanket. He 
and La Salle made speeches to each other. La Salle 
presented knives, beads, red cloth, and mirrors; and the 
little procession turned about and went gravely away. 

At last the explorers came to the mouth of the river. 
The Indian braves and the squaws and the children must 
have been greatly amazed at the next move, for all the 
Frenchmen took their stand with their gims. They 
chanted the Te Deum, "■ We praise Thee, O God," and 



THE MEN WHO EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI 105 




LA SALLE TAKING POSSESSION OF THE jNUSSISSIPPI VALLEY 
From a painting by J. N. Marchaud 

some other Latin hymns. The guns were fired. La Salle 
stepped into the centre of the group and planted a tall 
post on which was written, " Louis the Great, King of 
France and I^avarre, April 9, 1682." He made a long 
speech, declaring that he claimed for his sovereign all 
the land that was drained by the Mississippi and by all 
the rivers that flow into it. " Long live the king ! " the 
men shouted. " Long live the king ! " Again there was 
firing of guns. Then a great cross was set up near the 
post, and at its foot was buried a leaden plate on which 



106 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

the arms of France were engraved. Another Latin hymn 
was snng. That was ah; but it was because of this lit- 
tle ceremony on the lonely shore of the Gulf of Mexico 
that France claimed as her own all the land between the 
Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains. 

La Salle did not give up the rest of his plan, — to 
found a colony at the mouth of the Mississipj^i. Not 
Ions: after his return to Canada he went to France. 
Wonderful stories had gone before him. " Louisiana is 
full of peaches and plums and berries of all sorts," they 
said. " There are all kinds of trees. The soil is so rich 
that if you only scratch the surface of the gromid, you 
can raise whatever you choose to plant." 

" I 'd like to go there to live," said one after another. 
"When La Salle went back, eight or ten families went 
with him. They did not go by Canada, but sailed di- 
rectly for the Gulf of Mexico. 

The rest of the story is a sad one. The pilots made a 
mistake and went four hundred miles beyond the mouth 
of the Mississippi. The food ship and one other vessel 
were lost. Sickness set in, and more than a hundred 
men died within a few days. The others would gladly 
have gone back to France, but only one ship was left, and 
that was not large enough to carry them all across the 
ocean. La Salle set out on foot for Canada to get help, 
a terrible undertaking. On the way he was murdered 
by some of his own men. The lonely colonists met a 



THE MEN WHO EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI 107 
cruel fate, for some of them were killed by the Indians, 
and the others were made prisoners by the Spaniards. 

Such was the end of La Salle's attempt to start a 
colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. The colony was 
finally founded, and was called ^ew Orleans ; but this 
was after La Salle had been dead for many years. 

OUTLINE 

The English and the French colonies in 1675 — "Where does 
the Mississippi empty?" — La Salle's journey do\vn the Ohio — 
Governor P'rontenac sends Joliet and Marquette to find the Mis- 
sissippi — the Indians urge them not to go — the cross in the In- 
dian village — they come to the " big water " — the shores of the 
Mississippi — a visit to the Indian chiefs — the monsters on the 
cliff — the evil spirit — the mouth of the Missouri — the warning 
of the Arkansas Indians — the return of the explorers — La 
Salle's plan for forts and a colony — the king's permission — La 
Salle's preparations — the journey to St. Louis — a war dance — 
the chief's visit — the ceremonies at the mouth of the Mississippi 
— La Salle tries to found a colony — its troubles and its fate — 
murder of La Salle. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A Frenchman tells his family why he wishes to go to Louisiana. 
What Joliet told Governor Frontenac of his journey. 
One of the Indians describes the greatest danger that the ex- 
plorers met. 



108 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

WILLIAM PENN 

WPIO FOUNDED PENNSYLVANIA 

WHILE La Salle was on the Mississippi River 
planning a colony that failed, an English Quaker, 
named Wilham Penn, was getting ready to fomid a 
colony that was to succeed. Long before this the 
Quakers had thought of America. " The Puritans have 
gone to Massachusetts," they said, "■ and the Roman 
Catholics have gone to Maryland. Why should not we 
have a home of our own in the 'New World ? " A num- 
ber of Quakers crossed the ocean and made little set- 
tlements on the banks of the Delaware. Penn said to 
himself, " What a glorious thing it would be if we could 
have a country where not only Quakers but every one 
else could worship God as he thought right ! " At last 
he planned a way in which this might be brought about. 
King Charles had owed Penn's father a large sum of 
money, so the young man asked, "' Friend Charles, wilt 
thou give me land in America instead of that money?" 
The king was more than willing. Land in America was 
of no great value, he believed, and so he readily gave 
Penn a piece almost as large as the whole of England. 
"It shall be called IN^ew Wales," said Penn; bnt the 
king had the good taste not to like this name. " Then 
let it be Sylvania," Penn suggested. " Pennsylvania," 



WILLIAM PENN 



109 



declared the quick-witted king. Penn thought that 
might look as if he wished to honor himself, but the 
king said 



yom^ 



" Oh no, it is to honor the admiral, 
father." So Pennsyl- 
vania — Penn's wood- 
land — A\ as written on 
the maps of the new 
state. 

Just where his set- 
tlement was to be, he 
did not know, but he 
sent three men across 
the ocean to find a 
good place and treat 
with the Indians. The 
town was to be named 
Philadelphia, or the 
City of Brotherly 
Love. He had a de- 
lightful time planning it. He did not mean to have the 
houses dropped down anywhere and to have the streets 
wriggle and twist to go by the houses. His town was 
to have streets running north and south, cut at right 
angles by other streets running east and west. Those 
that went north and south were to be numbered, First 
Street, Second Street, and so on ; those that went east 
and west were to be named for the trees of the forest, — 




WILLIAM PENN 



110 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

Chestnut, Walnut, Spruce, and Pine. The river banks 
were never to be built upon, but always to be open 
to the people. The streets were made narrow because 
Penn was not planning for a large city but for a " green 
country town." He marked on his plan just where the 
city hall was to be, where he meant to have open parks, 
and where his own house was to stand. He wrote a 
friendly letter to the English and the Swedes who were 
already settled on his land, teUing them he hoped they 
would not dislike having him as governor, for they 
should be treated fairly and make whatever laws they 
thought best. He also wrote to the Indians that he was 
their friend and that he wanted to live with them in 
love and peace. He sent his cousin across the ocean to 
deliver these letters and act as governor until he him- 
self could come. Then he set to work and wrote a busi- 
nesslike advertisement. It told how much it would cost 
to cross the ocean, how much he would sell land for, 
what kind of country Pennsylvania was, and what things 
colonists would need. It was not long before ships 
began to cany settlers to Pennsylvania. It is thought 
that three thousand came the first year. 

These settlers, even the earliest of them, had none of 
the hard times that the people of Plymouth and James- 
town had to endure. Of course there were no houses ; 
and when the first ship sailed up the, beautiful Delaware 
Piver, her passengers had to scramble up the b.ank and 



WILLIAM PENN 111 

shelter themselves as best they could until their houses 
were built. Some of them made huts of bark. Some 
dug into the river bank and beat down the earth for 
floors. For walls they piled up sods, or they cut down 
bi'anches and small trees and set them up around the 
floor. For chimneys, they mixed grass and clay to- 
gether. Some of them drove forked sticks into the 
ground, laid a pole in the crotches, and hung a kettle 
on the pole. A fire was built under it, and there the 
cooking was done. It was a busy time, for while all this 
was going on, the surveyors were marking off lots as 
fast as they could. The settlers were in a hurry, for 
they wanted to build their houses. Some made them of 
logs, and some had brought the frames with them, each 
piece marked and numbered, so they could be put up 
very quickly. The Indians were much interested. They 
gazed with wonder at a wooden house growing almost 
as rapidly as a wigwam. They often did more than 
gaze; they helped those who were in need. On the 
voyage a man had died, and his widow, with eight or 
nine children, found herself alone in a strange country. 
The white people, busy as they were, saw that she had 
a cave-house at once, and the Indians hurried to bring 
venison and corn for her and her little family. 

The next year, in 1682, Penn himself came to America. 
He landed first at N^ewcastle, and there he took formal 
possession of his land in the old English fashion; that 



112 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

is, he took a cup of water, a handful of soil, a bit of 
turf, and a twig. When he saw his new town, he was de- 
lighted. The situation, the air, the water, the sky, — 
everything pleased him, and he wrote his friends most 
enthusiastic letters. He told them about the nuts and 
grapes and wheat, about the wild pigeons, the big tur- 
keys, the ducks, and the geese, all free to whoever chose 
to shoot them. The water was full of fish and the forest 
abounded with deer. It is no wonder that settlers hur- 
ried to Pennsylvania. 

Of course the Indians were eager to see the new 
governor, and very Ukely a group of them stood on the 
bank when he first kmded. He was quite as eager to 
meet them, and soon they came together for feasting 
and a treaty of peace. Penn was exceedingly hand- 
some. His hair was long and lay on his shoulders in 
curls, as was the fashion of the day. His clothes had 
not the silver trimmings and the lace that most young 
men of Avealth were used to wear, but he liked to have 
them of rich material and well made. " He was the 
handsomest, best-looking, and liveliest of gentlemen," 
declared a lady who saw him at that time. Tradition 
says that he and the Indians met under a great elm that 
stood on the river bank. The deep blue stream was 
flowing softly by, the blue sky was overhead, the leaves 
of the elm were gently fluttering, and little birds were 
peering down curiously between the branches. The 



114 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

chief seated himself for a council. His wisest men sat 
close behind him in a half circle. Behind them sat the 
younger braves. Peim stood before them and told them 
about his colony. He said that he wished to be a good 
friend to the Indians and to treat them kindly. As each 
sentence was translated to them, they gave a shout of 
pleasure. At the end they said, "We will never do any 
wrong to you or your friends;" and Penn declared, 
" We will live in love as long as the sun gives light." 
Penn paid the Indians for their land just as the settlers 
of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New I^^etherland 
had done. He gave them cloth, bells, guns, kettles, 
axes, scissors, knives, mirroi's, shoes, beads, combs, and 
shirts. Of course all these things together Avould hardly 
buy a rod of land in Philadelphia to-day; but they 
were of great value to the Indians, and they were well 
pleased with the bargain. They were also well pleased 
with the governor. He was dignified and courtly in his 

bearing; but when he 
spoke to them, he was 
simple and friendly. 

15ELT OF WAMPUM GIYEX TO PENN ^^ in- • i i 

The Indian and White Man clasp hands in Hc WOuld Sit With them 

^"'^"'^^"P and eat of their hominy 

and roasted acorns as if he were one of them. At col- 
lege he had been fond of outdoor sports, and there is 
a story that once when the red men were leaping to 
show what they could do, he suddenly stepped out and 




WILLIAM PENN 115 

leaped higher and farther than they. The Indians were 
dehghted. " He is a great man," they said, " bnt when 
he comes among ns, he is our brother." They called him 
" Onas," the Indian word for pen or quill. " Onas al- 
ways does what he says he will do," they told the other 
tribes. 

Penn stayed two years in America, but not all the 
time in Philadelphia. Once he went to Maryland to have 
a talk with Lord Baltimore about boundaries. America 
was so large, and a few miles of wilderness seemed of 
so little value, that the English kings gave away broad 
slices of the country without taking much troul^le to 
make sure that no two men had the same piece. Lord 
Baltimore claimed the very land on which Philadelphia 
had been settled. It became known that he was on his 
way to England to la}^ his claim before the king. Then 
Penn had to cross the ocean to defend his grant. He 
expected to return soon, but one trouble after another 
kept him in England for fifteen years. 

At last the time came Avhen he and his wife and chil- 
dren could come to Philadelphia. He built a fine brick 
house at a place which he named Pennsbury, twenty 
miles up the river. It was handsomely furnished. There 
were dishes of silver and china, plush couches, embroi- 
dered chairs, satin curtains, and a heavy carj)et — perhaps 
the first one that ever came across the ocean. There were 
gardens, made beautiful not only with plants brought 



116 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

from England, but with wild Howers of America. Lawns 
and terraces ran down to the river bank. There was a 
stable for twelve horses, there was a " coach and four," 
there was a barge to be rowed by six oarsmen. The In- 
dians came freely to visit him, and he entertained them 
on his lawn or in the great hall of his handsome house. 
He roamed over the country on horseback, and was once 
lost in the woods near Valley Forge as completely as if 
he had not been on his own ground. Once when he 
was riding to meeting, he came up with a child who 
was also going to the same place. The shy little bare- 
foot girl must have been half afraid but much delighted 
when the governor caught her up, set her behind him 
on his great horse, and trotted on to meeting with her. 
It would be pleasant if we could think of Penn as spend- 
ing the rest of his days in the comitry life that he en- 
joyed; but he had been in America only two years when 
he was obliged to return to England. Never again did 
he see beautiful Pennsbury, his Indian friends, the city 
that he loved, or the smoothly flowing Delaware. 

OUTLINE 

The Quaker colonies — Penn's plan for a colony — a royal grant 
— his plan for the city — his letters to the settlers on his land 
and to the Indians — his*advertisenient — the shelter of the first 
settlers in Philadelphia — the first houses — kindness of the In.- 
dians — the coming of Penn — his letters home — the welcome 
of the Indians — Penn's appearance — the treaty of friendship — 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 117 

Penn's payment to the Indians — his behavior to them — what 
they thought of him — Penn's journey to Maryland — he leaves 
America — his return — Pennsbury — stories of Penn. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A settler describes his first days in Philadelphia. 
Penn writes his wife about Pennsylvania. 
An Indian tells a distant tribe about Penn. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 

THE YOUNG SOLDIER 

IT would seem as if a few groups of colonists might 
live in peace together when they had a whole con- 
tinent on which to choose places for their homes ; but 
during the half century following the settlement of 
Philadelphia there was a great deal of fighting in 
America. Much of it was caused by the fact that when- 
ever England, France, and Spain were at war, their 
colonies also fought. After a while, however, the colo- 
nists of England and France had a quarrel of their own. 
Its occasion was the land along the Ohio River. This 
message came to the French : " Those Englishmen are 
planning to send out settlers to the Ohio«" 

" That will not do," declared the French. " We want 
to be able to float dowai the Ohio into the Mississippi, 
and so on to the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle explored 



118 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

the Ohio. Moreover, we discovered the Mississippi, 
and the Ohio flows into it; therefore the Ohio is ours." 

The Enghsh laughed at this. " The French claim all 
the rivers that flow into the Mississipjoi ! " they cried. 
" They might as well claim all the countries that drink 
French brandy." 

Both nations knew that a strong fort built at the 
point where the Allegheny joins the Monongahela would 
hold the river, for no enemies could sail by such a forti- 
fication. Governor Duquesne of Canada began quietly 
to build forts, each one a little nearer this spot. Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddle of Virginia was wide aAvake and keep- 
ing a close watch on the doings of the French. When 
he heard that a third fort had been begun, he said to 
himself, " That has gone far enough. I will send some 
one to warn them that this land belongs to us." 

It was not easy to choose a messenger. The governor 
thought it over. " It is a hard journey," he said to him- 
self. " There will be ice and snow and Indians and all 
sorts of dangers. We must have a man who knows how 
to make his way through the forest and will not be afraid 
of diflEiculties. That young surveyor who has done so 
much work for Lord Fairfax is a good woodsman. He 
is cool and sensible, and whatever he undertakes he does 
well. He is not the man to be imposed upon, either; and 
even if those smooth Frenchmen treat him as if he were 
the king of France, he will not forget what he was sent 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



119 




THE YOUNG SURVEYOR 



for." There was something else to be careful about. " It 
won't do to send any rude, blunt messenger," thought 
the governor. " Such a fellow would get us mto a fight 
in three days. This young Washington knows how to 
behave in a parlor as well as in the forest. The young- 
ster is only twenty-one, but I believe he is the man 
to go." 

Then the governor sent for the young man and told 
him what was needed. He set out Avith a little company 
of white men and Indians. The mountains were covered 
with snow, and the cold November rains were falling. 



120 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

Drip, drip, came the water from the branches as the men 
pushed on in Indian file through the wilderness. For 
two weeks it either rained or snowed, and it was always 
cold and wet. The wind blew upon them in tempests 
whenever they left the shelter of the forest. The heavy 
rains had swollen the brooks to creeks, and the creeks 
to rivers; but, large or small, they must all be crossed. 

At last Washington saw through the trees the gleam 
of the French flag and smoke rising from a chimney. 
This was the nearest of the three forts, though it was 
hardly a fort as yet. The French were most polite to 
their English visitors; but they were exceedingly care- 
ful not to say a word that would show^ what their plans 
were. " The commander is at FortLe Boeuf," they said, 
"and the reply must come from him. It is time for 
supper now; come and eat with us." At supper they 
drank a good deal of wine, and then they forgot their 
caution. "We are going to have the Ohio," they de- 
clared; and went on good naturedly, " Of course you 
can raise two men to our one, but your English are slow 
folk. We can build our forts and take the whole coun- 
try while you are getting ready." Washington did not 
boast about what the English could do, but he wrote 
all this carefully in his journal to show to Governor 
Dinwiddle. 

The next day he went on to Fort Le Boeuf. He pre- 
sented the governor's letter, which reminded the French 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 



121 



that they were on land belonging to the English. The 
coramander replied, " I will send the letter to Governor 







-?-:!;W^'^"P;'7J''-" /^||^9| 


K ' 




^^^^^^Bbi 




it- 


I^^^B^^^H^^^k ''^■^^^ 



WASHINGTON ON HIS MISSION TO THE OHIO 

Duqnesne; but this is where he has j)laced me, and here 
I must stay until he sends me somewhere else." 

Washington took his leave. The horses went so slowly 
through the snow that, to save time, he returned on foot 



122 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

with only one man. The coming had been hard enough, 
but the return was much worse. The cold had become 
more intense ; the rivers were full of floating ice. Wash- 
ington was knocked off the raft into ten feet of bitterly 
cold water, and had to spend that night on a little island 
without fire or shelter. There was danger from the In- 
dians, and more than once he was fired upon by them; 
but he came out safely from all dangers and gave Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddle the French commander's reply. 

" We must get ahead of them," declared the governor. 
" We will build a fort just where the Allegheny joins 
the Monongahela, and we will hold the Ohio." So he 
sent men there to build the fort; but the French drove 
them away, and in high glee built a fortification of 
their own which they named for the governor. Fort Du- 
quesne. Governor Dinwiddle had sent another band of 
men to help the first, with Washington at its head. He 
heard that the French had driven the first colonists 
away and were coming to attack his company. With his 
few men he could not meet them, so he went back a 
little way to wait for more ti'oops. 

It was not long before a few militiamen and fifty regu- 
lar soldiers came. Their captain put on a great many 
airs because his regulars were paid by the king. "We 
belong to the king's army," he declared, " and the king's 
soldiers do not take orders from a young fellow in the 
colonial militia." His men followed their captain's lead 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 123 

and refused to help make a road or drag the cannon. 
They were soon frightened into helping, however, for 
the scouts told them that the French were coming upon 
them. Then they forgot that thiey were taking orders 
from a colonial major and worked as hard as they could 
to help make an intrenchment, dig a ditch, and cut down 
trees for breastworks. The French came upon them, 
twice as many as the colonists. The fight lasted for nine 
hours. The powder gave out and the provisions gave 
out. There was nothing to be gained by lying down 
behind the logs and starving ; so Washington surren- 
dered. The French were jubilant. They had driven off 
the English and they held the Ohio. 

But somehow the English would not stay driven off. 
At length the king of England began to find out that 
the French were trying to crowd his colonies into a lit- 
tle strip of land near the coast, and that if he expected 
to have any more than that he must fight. Then he 
sent General Braddock to Virginia with one thousand 



men. 



Long before the vessel came to the wharf, the colo- 
nists could see the red coats of the soldiers. The regu- 
lars were with them, and they were delighted. Braddock 
made Washington one of his officers, but he had no idea 
of listening to his advice. Washington was much trou- 
bled. " The general knows how to fight the French," 
he thought, " but he seems to think that the Indians will 



124 AMERICAX HERO STORIES 

march out in line like white men." So he told him 
respectfully how the Indians behaved in a fight. " They 
hide behind rocks and trees," he said, " and there will 
be a storm of bullets when no one is in sight." 

" Regulars know how to return bullets," replied Brad- 
dock. " It would be a strange thing if British ti'oops 
could not meet a handful of naked Indians." 

The line of redcoats and of colonial soldiers set out on 
the long hard march through the forest. They crossed 
the Monongahela. They were climbing a hill when 
suddenly shots began to come from all directions and the 
forest echoed with the yells of the Indians. The French 
were in front, the Indians were on both sides, but hidden 
behind trees. The regulars were so dazed at this new 
kind of fighting that they ran like sheep. The colonists 
had learned how to meet Indians, and so they hid be- 
hind trees and returned the fire. Even then Braddock 
could not see that there was any other way to fight than 
the one he had learned, and he shouted to his men to 
come out and form in line. Of course the only end to 
such a battle was the wild retreat of the English. Can- 
non, provisions, food, arms, clothes, horses, and money 
were forgotten in the mad rush for safety. Braddock 
was mortally wounded and soon died. When the fugi- 
tives dared to stop, he was buried in the forest, and 
wagons were rolled over his grave lest the Indians 
should find it. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 125 

It was owing chiefly to Washington's skill and cool- 
ness that any of the men escaped. Fonr bullets were 
shot throngh his coat, but he was not hurt. Afterwards 
an Indian chief said, " He will never die in battle. I 
told all my braves to aim at him, but they could not hit 
him." If the Indian had known what severe fighting lay 
before the young officer, he might not have been so sure 
that Washington would never die in battle. 

OUTLINE 

Why the colonies fought — Governor Duquesne builds forts — 
Governor Dinwiddie's warning — choosing a messenger — Wash- 
ington's journey through the forest — he is entertained at the 
French fort — the Frenchmen's boast — Washington at Fort Le 
Bceuf — his return to Virginia — Governor Dinwiddle attempts 
to build a fort — Washington is sent to help the builders — the 
coming of the militia and the regulars — the attack of the French 

— General Braddock comes to Virginia — Washington warns 
Braddock — Braddock's reply — Braddock is conquered and slain 

— Wasliington's escape. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Governor Dinwiddle tells Washington what he is to do on his 
mission to the French. 
Washington's report of the journey. 
A colonial soldier describes Braddock's defeat. 



126 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

JAMES WOLFE 
WHO CAPTURED QUEBEC 

AFTER Braddock's defeat at the Monongahela, the 
French gained battle after battle. Then they be- 
gan to lose and the English to win. There was only one 
thing which could end the war, and that was the capture 
of Quebec. So long as the French held the city on the 
rock, they could laugh at the attempts of the English to 
conquer Canada ; and so long as they held the city, the 
English would never give up trying to capture it. 

This was what an Englishman named William Pitt 
was saying to himself. He was prime minister of Eng- 
land, and therefore he had to make plans for the war 
and choose the men to carry them out. " Quebec must 
be taken," he thought, " and James Wolfe can take it 
if any one can." 

Wolfe had been a soldier ever since he was a boy of 
fifteen. He was so earnest and so eager to succeed 
that some one once said to the king, " That young Wolfe 
is mad." 

" Mad, is he ? " the king growled. " Then I only hope 
he will l^ite some of my generals." 

Before long, Montcalm, who was in command at Que- 
bec, heard that the English were coming. " They can 
never get up the river without pilots," he said ; but he 



JAMES WOLFE 



127 



was too good a soldier not to make ready to receive them 
in case they did get through the zigzag channel. Quebec 
stood high and safe on the great rocky promontory. 





^^^' :/W 






#J W-f 



JAJIES WOLFE 



Below it was the St. Charles River, flowing into the St. 
Lawrence. Beyond the St. Charles was a steep bank 
which stretched along the St. Lawrence for seven or 
eight miles. Montcalm chained heavy logs together and 
fastened this " boom " across the St. Charles so no ships 



128 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

could sail up the stream and attack the city from the rear. 
He stationed his forces along the steep bank. He built 
earthworks and batteries to make sure that Wolfe could 
not land at that place. Then he waited. After a long 
while the English ships were seen. " They cannot get up 
to the Isle of Orleans," declared the French, and they 
crowded to the shore to see them rmi upon the rocks. 
Behold, the ships sailed on as easily as if they were in 
a mill pond. That was no wonder, for the English had 
captured some French pilots and had said to them, " You 
are to steer these vessels up the river ; and if one runs 
aground, you will be hanged." Of course every vessel 
went through the channel safely, and the men were 
landed on the Isle of Orleans. Wolfe walked to the far- 
ther end of the island, and stood looking at Quebec only 
three or four miles away. There was the Lower Town, 
that is, the houses on the flats near the river. Above 
that was the Upper Town with its green trees and gray 
stone buildings. Still higher was the citadel, and around 
it was a thick stone wall wherever the cliffs were not 
protection enough. Batteries were everywhere with 
their guns pointing toward the river, and Wolfe must 
have felt almost discouraged when he saw them. Then 
he looked beloAv the town. There was -the St. Charles 
guarded by the boom of logs. Beyond it were the steep 
banks, and along these banks thousands of French sol- 
diers were encamped. 



JAMES WOLFE 129 

Wolfe did not know what to do, but Montcalm knew 
precisely what he would do. " Wolfe cannot land within 
seven or eight miles of the city," he thought, " and there * 
is no use in my going out to meet him. Let him stay 
until his provisions begin to give out, and then he will go 
home. If he stays a little too long, the frost will catch 
him and he will be frozen into the river as tight as a 
rat in a trap." The governor of the town, however, 
wanted to make one effort to destroy the fleet. He made 
his arrangements; then he climbed up into the steeple of 
a church and stood there in the darkness watching the 
river to see what would happen. 

A little while before midnight the English soldiei's 
saw black, vague shapes coming slowly toward them. 
Suddenly there were explosions, tongues of fire, sheets 
of flame. Missiles hissed and screamed and roared and 
shrieked; muskets and cannon and bombs exploded; 
shot rattled away among the leaves like hailstones. 
These were the governor's fireships, coming to burn the 
English fleet. Fortunately for the English, they had been 
set afire too soon and were nowhere near the fleet. The 
English sailors sprang into their boats, caught hold of 
the monsters with grappling irons, and towed them to 
the shore. There they spluttered and fizzed awhile, and 
then burned out harmlessly. The governor climbed down 
from the steeple and went back to the camp in the dark, 
strangely surprised at the failure of his plan, and won- 



130 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

dering what the king of France would say about his 
spending so much money for nothing. 

It was June when Wolfe went to Canada. The sum- 
mer was going swiftly. June had passed ; July was 
almost gone. Still Wolfe thought and planned, but he 
could not find any way to conquer Montcalm. He had 
fired hundreds of shells into the town, he had destroyed 
many buildings; but that was not taking Quebec. He 
must meet Montcalm in battle and conquer him, and 
Montcalm would not be met. " The wary old fellow 
avoids battle," Wolfe wrote to his mother. " But he 
shall fight," he said to himself; and he determined to 
land his men on the shore below the St. Charles close 
to Montcalm's intrenchments, make a dash up the bank, 
and force the French to meet him. 

^ow the soldiers had been waiting week after week, 
and they were half wild with eagerness and impatience. 
" Why don't we do something ? " they had grumbled. 
When the first companies of these men were put ashore, 
they forgot that they ought to wait for orders or for the 
other troops, they forgot that they had a commander, 
they forgot everything except that the enemy were before 
them. So they began to scramble up the bank. Of coui-se 
the French came out then. Their volleys alone would 
have been enough to drive the few Englishmen away; 
but a storm suddenly burst upon them, and in a moment 
the bank was so slippery that no one could climb it. 



JAMES WOLFE 



131 




LANDING OF THE BRITISH TROOPS ABOVE QUEBEC 

There was nothing to do but to retreat. The French 
were dehghted. " The war is as good as ended," they 
declared. Wolfe was almost in despair. 

Befoi-e Wolfe came to Canada, he had thought that 
he could go up the river beyond Quebec, land his 
troops on some level fields loiown as the Plains of 
Abraham, and attaclrthe city from that side. But when 
he saw the place, he found that the Plains of Abraham 
were a high plateau whose bank was as nearly perpen- 
dicular as a bank of earth could be. Still, every other 
attempt had failed, and September had come. Wolfe 
determined to try this plan as a last hope. Up the river, 
beyond the city, went the English warships, though the 
guns of Quebec bellowed and thundered at them as 
they passed. " They mean to try to land somewhere," 
thought Montcalm, and he sent men to prevent them. 



132 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

They did mean to land somewhere, but it was in the 
very place where Montcalm had felt sure that no one 
could land. One dark night sixteen hundred English 
soldiers got into the small boats and floated gently down 
the river toward the town. Wolfe and some of his offi- 
cers were together in one boat. A little while before, 
Wolfe had received letters from home, and in one of 
them was a beautiful poem that had recently been pub- 
lished, describing rural scenes and the lives of country 
people. It is known as Gray's " Elegy." In the midst 
of his preparations for battle, lines of this poem kept 
coming into Wolfe's mind, and in the boat that night 
he began, — 

" The curfew tolls the knell of parting clay," 
and repeated the stanzas softly to his officers. " Gen- 
tlemen," he said, " I would rather have written those 
lines than take Quebec to-morrow." 

They floated on silently, but nearer and nearer the 
shore. " Who is there ? " rang out the voice of a 
French sentinel. 

" France." 

'' What is your regiment ? " 

" The Queen's." 

This conversation was in French, and the sentinel 
never suspected that a Scotchman, who knew the lan- 
guage, was answering his questions. A little later an- 
other sentinel cried, " Who is there ? " and the Scotch- 



JAMES WOLFE 133 

man replied, '' Provision boats. Hush, the Enghsh will 
hear ns ! " So again they were allowed to pass. They 
came to shore at the foot of the precipice. The Scotch- 
man and twenty -three others had volunteered to go 
first. '' If you can climb it, the rest of the men may 
follow," said A¥olfe. He sat in the boat listening, but 
not a sound could he hear save the ripple of the river. 
Suddenly guns were fired at the top of the bank, and 
the soldiers leaped from the boats and tore their way 
up the steep. Even here the careful Montcalm had left 
a small force of men, but they were taken by surprise 
and easily captured. 

Wolfe had left some of his soldiers below the city, 
and they had pretended to be about to attack Montcalm 
in his intrenchments. While the French were watching 
for them, a man came up at full gallop. " The English, 
the English ! " he cried, " they are on the Plains of 
Abraham ! " Montcalm spurred his horse, and in three 
hours he had his thousands of soldiers drawn up on 
the Plains only half a mile from the English lines. The 
French dashed forward, shouting and firing, but not an 
Englishman stirred. When the French were forty yards 
away, " Fire ! " shouted the English commanders, and 
such a volley blazed out as few armies have to meet. 
This was the beginning, and the whole battle was hardly 
more than a beginning, it was so swift and so soon 
ended. The English had conquered. '' But where is 



134 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

the general ? " demanded the men. The word went 
from hne to Hue, '' The general is killed," and all their 
rejoicing was turned into sorrow. Wolfe had been 
wounded three times. At the third blow he fell. 

" Shall I get a surgeon ? " asked one of his men. 

" l^o, it is all over," he replied, and closed his eyes. 

The wild retreat had begun, and an officer cried, 
" See how they run ! " 

That cry aroused the dying general. " Who run ? " 
he demanded. 

" The enemy ! they give way everywhere ! " was the 
reply. 

" God be praised ! " he said. " I shall die in peace." 
And these were the last words of the eager soldier 
whose life had been passed in war. 

Another brave general was also struck by a fatal 
ball. " How long have I to live? " Montcalm asked the 
surgeon. " ^ot more than twelve hours," was the reply. 
" So much the better," said the wounded man. " I am 
happy that I shall not live to see the siu'render of 
Quebec." 

So it was that Quebec and Canada fell into the hands 
of the English, and with it all the land claimed by the 
French east of the Mississippi. When the treaty was 
signed, France was obliged to give up all her posses- 
sions in America except two little islands in the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence. 



WHEN PONTIAC BESIEGED DETROIT 135 

OUTLINE 

William Pitt's plan — Wolfe's character — what Montcalm 
thought of Pitt's plan — preparations to defend Quebec — Wolfe 
comes up the river — he looks at Quebec — Montcalm will not 
fight — the governor's attempt to destroy the Enghsh fleet — 
Wolfe's summer — he tries to force a battle — his retreat — he 
concludes to adopt his first plan to attack the city — sails up the 
river — floats down at night — recites Gray's " Elegy " — the 
sentinels' challenges — the surprise — the news carried to Mont- 
calm — the battle — death of the generals — result of this vic- 
tory. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Pitt tells Wolfe his plan. 
Wolfe describes Quebec and its defenses. 

A Frencli soldier describes tlie attempt of the Enghsh to climb 
up the slippery bank below the town. 



WHEN POI^TIAC BESIEGED DETROIT 

AFTER Wolfe had captured Quebec, and the Al- 
gonquin Indians had found that the English had 
become the rulers of Canada, they were much troubled. 
" There is no one to help us now," they said. " The 
Iroquois will attack us and the English settlers will 
take our lands. What shall we do ? " 

A wary old chief named Pontiac was thinking the 
matter over. " We cannot drive the English into the 
ocean," he thought, " but if all our tribes should unite 



136 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

and help the French, then the Frenchmen might rule 
in Canada again, and they would help us against all 
our enemies." He sent messengers to many tribes to 
say : " The English hate us. They want to kill us, or 
drive us far away from the hunting grounds that the 
Great Spirit gave to our fathers. Will you join w^ith 
us to thrust these enemies of ours from the land ? The 
French say that their king has been asleep, but that 
he will soon awake and send soldiers as many as the 
stars of the heavens." 

Far and near the Indians replied, " We have heard 
your message ; we have danced the war-dance ; we are 
ready to fight." This dance was performed at night. 
The warriors put on their war-feathers and painted their 
faces with the colors that meant war. They seated them- 
selves on the ground in a circle around a painted post, 
the firelight flashing on their beads and other orna- 
ments. Behind them was the dark and gloomy forest. 
Soon the war-chief, the one chosen to lead them to the 
fight,' sprang forward and dashed into the ring. He 
recited the deeds of the heroes of the tribe, how many 
enemies they had slain, how many scalps they had 
brought home. He rushed at the post and struck it 
fiercely with his hatchet as if it were his foe. He drew 
his scalping knife and pretended to be taking a scalp. 
He howled and shouted and yelled. The other warriors 
sprang from their places and leaped into the ring. They 



WHEN PONTIAC BESIEGED DETROIT 137 

danced wildly about, brandishing knives and clubs and 
hatchets and tomahawks. They whooped and screeched 
until the whole forest echoed with the horrible clamor. 
Then they were ready to go on the warpath. 

Pontiac planned that several of the principal forts or 









i 




^HK "^ ^ 


i 








J 

/ 







INDIAN DANCE 

settlements of the English should be attacked on the 
same day. Detroit was the strongest of these settle- 
ments. " Detroit is mine," said Pontiac. " I know how 
to get into the fort." N^ow Pontiac's home was not far 
from Detroit. He and his braves went on the hunt in 
the winter; but when spring had come, they returned 



138 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

to their village. One fine spring day he went to the 
gate of the fort at Detroit with fifty of his men and 
said, " We wish to do honor to our friends, the English, 
and we are come to dance the cakmiet dance before you." 
The English did not like to admit so many Indians, but 
finally they replied, " You may come in." The braves 
who did not dance strolled about the fort as the Indian 
visitors usually did. They were noticing carefully just 
how the streets ran and where the houses w^ere placed; 
but the English paid no special attention to what they 
were doing. After they had gone, the English said, 
'' The Indians are friendly. There will be no trouble." 

A little later a white woman saw the Indians filing off 
the muzzles of their guns. " They are planning some 
trickery," declared one of the settlers, and he warned 
Gladwyn, who commanded the fort. Another warning 
came from a young Indian girl. " Pontiac and his chiefs 
are coming here," she said. " They have made their 
gmis short, and every brave will bring one hidden in his 
blanket. They will say they wish to hold a council with 
the whites, but when Pontiac gives the signal with a 
wampum belt, they will kill every Englishman in the 
fort." 

Pontiac came as she had predicted, and asked for a 
council. The gates were flung open, and he and his 
braves walked in. Indians do not like to show their feel- 
ings, but Pontiac was so taken by surprise that he could 



WHEN PONTTAC BESIEGED DETROIT 139 




UNVEILING OF CONSPIRACY OF FONTIAC, DETROIT, 1763 

From a painting by J. M. Stanley, in possession of the Historical Society, Detroit, 

Michigan. 

not keep back a grunt of disappointment. " They have 
found it out," he thought; and well he might think so, 
for all the soldiers of the place, fully armed, were drawn 
up in line on either side of the entrance. The fort w^as 
really a little village of about one hundred houses, and 
the council house was at the farther side. The Indians 
passed through the narrow streets and entered its doors. 
There sat Gladwyn and some of his officers, every one 
with sword and pistols. 



140 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

" Why do my father's yoimg men meet a friend with 
their guns? " asked the chief. 

"The young men need exercise and drill," replied 
GladAvyn. 

Pontiac hesitated, but at last he began to make a 
speech. He told the English how much he loved them 
and what a true friend he was. " I am come to smoke 
the peace-pipe with you," he said. The wampum belt 
was in his hands. He began to raise it as if to give a^ 
signal to his warriors ; but Gladwyn also had a signal. 
He moved his hand, and in a moment they Avere deaf- 
ened by the rolling of drums, the clash of arms, and the 
tramp of feet just outside the door. Then all was silence 
again. Gladwyn made his speech. 

" AYe are your friends," he said, " and we have 
smoked the peace-pipe with you. But we are strong. 
We have many guns and many cannon. Our cannon 
speak with a loud voice, and they say, ' If the Indians 
are true, be good to them; but if they are not true, kill 
them and burn their villages.' " 

" We are always the friends of the English," replied 
Pontiac. "We shall soon come again and bring with 
us our squaws and our children, that they may shake 
the hands of our fathers, the English." 

" That speech is worth nothing," said Gladwyn to 
himself, and he set about strengthening the palisades 
and drilling his men. Early one morning, the attack 



WHEN PONTIAC BESIEGED DETROIT 141 

which he expected was made. The air was filled with 
yells and shrieks. Bullets flew in showers. Hundreds 
of Indians were near the fort, but few could be seen, for 
they were hiding behind trees and rocks. The soldiers 
returned their fire with a will, and they were driven 
away. 

Gladwyn hoped that this was the end of the attack, 
but the trouble had only begim. Soon the Indians came 
again, and this time they came to stay. They made their 
camp a mile and a half away. IS^ight and day they kept 
up their attack on the fort. Most of the little houses in 
the fort were thatched with straw, and the English did 
not dare to leave them a moment miguarded, for the 
Indians were shooting arrows to which burning rags 
were tied. Month after month the siege went on. The 
defenders were worn and weary. " Oh, if the English 
vessels would only come ! " they said. 

At last the vessels came. They could see the English 
flag, and they shouted for joy. But the answer was the 
yell of savages. The Indians had seized the boats and 
slain the white men. 

It was the beginning of May when the siege began. 
Week after w^eek had passed, and October had come. 
To besiege a fort so long was new to the Indians, and 
many of them went away. Others took their places, 
but provisions were scarce and their powder nearly 
gone. Then one of the chiefs came to the fort. 



142 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

"We are sorry for what we have done," he said, 
" and we have brought the pipe of peace to smoke with 
you. We have always been your friends." 

"I did not begin this fight," rej^hed Gladwyn. 
" When my king tells me to stop, I will stop, and not 
till then; but I am willing to have a truce." 

In reality, Gladwyn was more than willing, for he, 
too, was short of provisions. While the truce lasted, he 
got in as much food as possible. It was all needed, for it 
was more than fifteen months from the beginning of the 
siege to its end. In the sixteenth month, the imprisoned 
soldiers once more saw the red flag of England on the 
river. They hardly dared to cheer for fear of being 
deceived again, but now all was well. The boats were 
English vessels with English troops on board. Cheer 
after cheer rose from the fort, and never was the sound 
of a cannon more welcome than that which they heard 
in reply. The siege of Detroit was raised. Some of the 
Indians fled, some begged for pardon, A little later a 
council of whites and Indians was held. Here Pontiac 
said, " I declare, in the presence of all the nations, that I 
have made peace and taken the king of England for my 
father." 

The English never trusted Pontiac, and whenever 
they heard that he was among the French they were 
afraid of an attack. At length, an English fur trader 
whispered to one of the Illinois Indians, " Do you want 



THE FIRST DAY OF THE REYOLUTIOX 143 

a barrel of rum? Go into those woods and kill Pontiac, 

and it is yours." This was done, but fearful revenge 

followed the deed, for Pontiac's followers attacked the 

Illinois and destroyed almost their whole tribe. A 

French officer who had long been a friend of the dead 

warrior sent for his body and buried it with warlike 

honors, 

OUTLINE 

How the Algonquins felt at the capture of Quebec — Pontiac's 
l)lan — the war-dance — Pontiac visits Detroit — warnings given 
to the whites — Pontiac's council — GlachA^n prepares for an at- 
tack — Pontiac besieges tlie fort — the English vessels come in 
sight — Indians on board — Gladwyn grants a truce — English 
vessels come a second time — Pontiac's surrender — murder of 
Pontiac — revenge of his friends. 

SUGGESTIONS FOPt WRITTEN WORK 

The Indians tell stories of the kindness of the French. 
One of Pontiac's men describes the council at Detroit. 
An Englishman at Detroit tells his friends about the siege. 

THE FIRST DAY OF THE REVOLUTION 

WHEIS^ Braddock crossed the ocean to help fight 
the French and Indians, the colonists were glad 
to see the red coats of the British soldiers ; but a few 
years later they were angry and indignant at having 
soldiers from England on American soil. The king had 
sent the troops to Boston because the colonists had 



144 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

refused to obey some unjust laws that he had made. He 
thought they would not dare to resist if the British 
regulars were among them. 

The colonists were angry, but they were not fright- 
ened. "If we must fight, we will get ready," they said. 
In Miles Standish's time there had been companies of 
men that agreed to start for battle at half an hour's 
notice. Companies were now formed that said they 
would start at one minute's notice, and therefore they 
were called minute-men. The best soldiers cannot do 
much without ammunition. So the colonists began to 
store in Concord powder, and shot, bombs and cartridge 
paper, sjDades and pickaxes, as well as beef, rice, salt 
fish, flour, and oatmeal. 

Paul Revere, a goldsmith and engraver of Boston, 
was at the head of thirty men who made it their busi- 
ness to watch the British troops and the British man- 
of-war, the Somerset, anchored out in the harbor. One 
day they noticed that there was bustle and commotion 
among the redcoats on land, and that it was not as 
quiet as usual on board the Somerset. " Something is 
afoot," thought these wide-awake colonists. They kept 
their ears open as well as their eyes, and they caught 
a word or two that told them the whole story. " The 
British are going to Concord to destroy our stores," 
they said, " and to Lexington to capture our champions, 
Samuel Adams and John Hancock." 



THE FIRST DAY OF THE REVOLUTION 145 

Some little time before this, General Gage had seized 
cannon and stores belonging to the colonists, and they 
did not mean to be caught napping a second time; so 



^^^^^'^^^^^ 


i^|^^HP^-^i!^«P^^^H 




9 


^^^HI^^^^^^^M^^ 


1 



THE RIDE OF PAUL RE^TERE 



they decided to send William Dawes by way of Rox- 
bury and Paul Revere by way of Charlestown to warn 
Adams and Hancock and the farmers who lived on the 
way. They could not find out whether the troops were 



146 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

to march from Boston by the Koxbnry road or the 
Charlestown road. If by Roxbury, they would leave 
Boston by land ; if by Charlestown, they would leave by 
water. Revere arranged a signal. " Hang a lantern in 
the tower of the N^orth Church if they go by land," he 
said; "and hang two if they go by water." Then he 
rowed over to Charlestown. On the shore he waited 
and waited. It was nine o'clock, ten, eleven, and then 
a faint light gleamed in the tower. In a moment there 
was a second light. The British had started by water. 

Then he sprang upon his horse and galloped toward 
Medford. "Halt!" cried a sharp voice, and there stood 
two British soldiers on guard, for Gage had given 
orders that no colonists should be allowed to leave 
Boston that night. "Dismount !" they commanded. But 
Revere dashed on. He roused every little village on 
the way and every farmhouse. " The regulars are com- 
ing ! " he cried. " Get up and arm ! " 

The regulars were coming. They had been rowed 
across the Charles River and were marching on to Lex- 
ington. " Those stupid farmers will be surprised for 
once," they said to one another. " We '11 wake them 
up." But over the fields they began to see lights in 
the windows of the farmhouses. They could hear in the 
darkness the village bells clanging out an alarm. Now 
and then a gun was fired. " The rebels have found it 
out ! " they muttered. " PerhajDS they do not know in 



• THE FIRST DAY OF THE REVOLUTION 147 

Lexington yet," thought the commander, and he hur- 
ried his men onward. But on Lexington Green were 
sixty or seventy minute-men, their guns in their hands. 




MINUTE-MEN HURRYING TO CONCORD BRIDGE 



" Disperse, you villains ! You rebels, disperse ! " shouted 
the British officer. The minute -men stood looking 
sti'aight at the soldiers. " Fire ! " shouted the officer, 



148 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

and the soldiers fired. Eight colonists were killed and 
ten were wounded. The minute-men returned the fire 
and wounded two soldiers. Another companj^ of red- 
coats was coming up the road, and the colonists re- 
treated. " Hurrah ! " cried the soldiers. " Hurrah ! 
Hurrah ! " 

Hancock and Adams had been warned and had left 
the place. There was no hope of getting them, but the 
stores could be destroyed at any rate, thought the Brit- 
ish. So they marched on to Concord. They found the 
place where the stores had been, but they had disap- 
peared, — the Concord men could have told where. The 
troops relieved their minds by setting the court-house 
afire and knocking in the heads of a few barrels of floiu". 
Then came the minute-men, four hundred of them. 
They met two hmidred British at the North Biidge. 
Both sides fired, then the colonists charged and the 
British retreated. 

It was nearly ten o'clock in the morning. The Brit- 
ish soldiers had been up all night. They had marched 
eighteen miles. They were tired and hungry. The 
commander stayed in Concord two hours to give them 
a chance to rest. He did not know how much the 
colonists could do in two hours, but he soon found out; 
for all this time the minute-men had been gathering 
from near and far. If they had marched out in, rank and 
file and stood still to be shot at, the British would have 




THE FIOHT AT CONCORD BRmGE 
From the painting by Edward Simmons in the State House at Boston 



150 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

won the day; but these farmers had learned a good deal 
from their wars with the Indians. Every man hid behind 
a barn or a wall or a rock or a tree and fired. The Brit- 
ish were as dazed as Braddock's men had been. They 
ran for their lives. They threw away their guns. They 
did not stop even to pick up the wounded. 

]^ews of what had been done had reached the British 
in Boston, and twelve hundred of them with two cannon 
came out to Lexington. They formed a hollow square, 
and into this the soldiers rushed and flung themselves 
on the grass, completely exhausted. They were on open 
gi'omid, and the cannon soon drove the minute-men 
away. Indeed, they were not at all anxious to stay. The 
British would have to start again before long and march 
into Boston; they would do their fighting then — and 
they did. More and more minute-men came from all 
directions. They fired at the British from behind, from 
both sides, and even from ahead. At first the British 
stopped sometimes, swung their cannon around and 
returned the fire; but it was not so easy to loiow where 
to aim when the enemy seemed to be everywhere and 
nowhere at the same time. The British went fast 
and faster; they broke into a wild run. If they could 
only get to Charlestown, they thought, the guns of the 
Somerset would defend them. At last they reached 
Charlestown, but two hundred and forty-seven of their 
men had been killed and wounded. The colonists had 



ISRAEL PUTNAM 151 

lost eighty-eight. All this took place April 19, 1775, 

and that date marks the beginning of the Kevolutionary 

War. 

OUTLINE 

British troops in Boston — minute-men — preparations for de- 
fense — a commotion among the British — the Americans plan to 
warn the farmers — Paul Revere's ride — the regulars march 
to Lexington — the meeting on Lexington Green — the march to 
Concord — the Concord fight — a two-hours' rest — the regulars 
return to Lexington — the march back to Boston. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

The colonists plan to form companies of minute-men. 
The talk of the regulars on the way to Lexington. 
How the Concord men hid the stores. 

A British soldier begins a letter, " On the night of the eigh- 
teenth of April : " Fmish the letter. 

ISRAEL PUTNAM 

SOLDIER OF THE REVOLUTION 

THERE was once a boy who made two visits to Bos- 
ton, on each of which he got into a fight. The first 
time was when he was a little fellow, and a boy much 
larger than he kept calling after him, " Country, coun- 
try ! " Thereupon he gave the saucy Boston boy a hard 
whipping, and went home to Salem. After some years 
he married, bought himself a piece of land on top of a 
Connecticut hill, and became a farmer. He was as fond 



152 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

of his farm as if it had been one of his children, and was 
especially proud of his fine breed of sheep. One morn- 
ing he found that sixty or seventy of them had been 
killed by a wolf. He and his neighbors joined in a 

wolf - hunt and soon 
had the beast shut 
into its cave. Put- 
nam lighted a torch, 
went boldly into the 
cave, shot the crea- 
ture before it could 
spring at him, and 
came out dragging it. 
When the French 
and Indian War broke 
out, he was ready to 
fight. In one battle 
his blanket was shot 
through fourteen 
times, but he was not 
touched. Once the 
barracks of a fort caught fire. Hundreds of barrels 
of powder stood near them. N^either the commander 
nor an}^ one else seemed to have any idea what to do. 
Putnam was not there, but he saw the smoke, ran to the 
fort, and began to give orders. " Form in line ! " he 
cried. " Pass the buckets along ! " He took his stand 




ISRAEL PUTNAM 



ISRAEL PUTNAM 153 

between the powder and the fire, and threw on the buck- 
ets of water as fast as they could be passed to him. The 
smoke and the whirl of the ashes in the wind almost hid 
him from the soldiers. The fire blazed around him. 
His heavy mittens were burned off his hands. " Take 
these ! " cried some one, and gave him a pair soaked 
with water. The fire came nearer and nearer to the 
powder. One partition fell, another and another. Only 
a thin board wall stood between him and an awful ex- 
plosion. Still he did not run, and at last he conquered. 
The flames died down, and he pulled off his wet mittelis. 
The skin came with them, and then for the first time he 
discovered that he had been terribly burned. 

Even that experience was less dreadful than a day 
that he spent with the Indians. His gun missed fire, 
and he was captured. They tied him to a tree and piled 
wood around him. It was kindled, and the flames blazed 
up. Then the Indians sang and danced and howled 
with delight. A few minutes more would have ended 
his life, but just then a French ofiacer appeared on the 
scene. He rushed through the yelling crowd, kicked 
the fire to pieces, and cut the bonds. 

During this same war, Putnam was on the St. Law- 
rence with General Amherst when he heard the general 
say, " We could soon capture the fort if it were not for 
the schooner over there that protects it." 

" I '11 take the schooner for you," Putnam offered, " if 



154 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

yon '11 give me some wedges and a mallet, and let me 
choose half a dozen men." 

The general was beginning to find ont that the Amer- 
icans had their own way of doing things, and at length 
he actnally gave Pntnam permission to try his plan. 
When night came, the men got into a light boat, mnffled 
their oars, and in the darkness rowed np to the stern of 
the schooner. They drove wedges between the rndder 
and the stern-post. Then they rowed in the shadow 
aronnd to the bow and cnt the anchor loose. The 
French soon foimd that they were adi'ift; bnt the rnd- 
der wonld not move, they were helpless, and they floated 
ashore with nothing to do bnt surrender. The fort fol- 
lowed their example. 

At the close of the war, in 1764, Pntnam went home, 
hung np his sword, swung over his door a signboard 
with General Wolfe's picture on it, and for ten years 
was a quiet farmer and innkeeper. On the 20th of 
April, in 1775, he had eaten his dinner and gone out to 
the field with his oxen. Suddenly he heard the sound 
of a drum. A man was galloping furiously along the 
road. Ideating his drum and calling, " To arms ! To arms! 
The British have fired upon us ! The country is ablaze ! " 
Then Putnam forgot his beloved farm. He forgot to 
say good-by to his family. He forgot that he was an 
ofl[icer, and was going to war witliout his uniform. He 
forgot everything except which of his horses was the 



ISRAEL PUTNAM 



155 




THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL 



swiftest. He leaped upon its back, and while the oxen 
stood in the field waiting patiently for him to return, he 
was galloping along the road to make his second visit 
to Boston, one hundred miles away. 

The Continental Army had gathered from all direc- 



156 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

tions. The British were in possession of Boston. " We 
must seize those hills," declared the British General 
Gage, "■ if we are to stay in the city." 

" We must seize those hills," declared the Americans, 
" if we are to drive the British out of the city." Colonel 
Prescott and General Putnam marched out by night and 
began to fortify Breed's Hill and Bunker Hill. 

At daybreak the British discovered what was going 
on. " We might take Charlestown ^N^eck," said one offi- 
cer, " and starve them out." 

" That 's too slow," objected another. " I believe the 
best way will be to charge upon them." * 

" T^ot so easy to charge up that hill." 

"" Why not ? They 're only farmers. They don't know 
anything about fighting. The chances are that they will 
run long before we are at the foot of the hill." 

So the British talked, and at length they decided to 
make a charge. The march began. The scarlet lines 
came nearer and nearer. Prescott and Putnam were 
going back and forth among their men at the top of the 
hill. "Remember there isn't much powder," they said. 
And Putnam added, "Men, you know how to aim. Don't 
fire till you can see the whites of their eyes." 

Up the hill marched the British, stoj^piug only to 
fire; but the Americans stood motionless. It seemed to 
them hours before the word rang out, " Fire ! " That 
fire was like a cannonade, and the British, brave old 



ISRAEL PUTNAM 157 

soldiers as they were, ran pell-mell down the hill. 
"Hurrah! hurrah !" shouted the Americans. The Brit- 
ish formed and rushed up the hill again ; again the lines 
broke, and they retreated. They came a third time, but 
now no volleys met them; the powder had given out. 
The Americans had no bayonets, but they fought furi- 
ously with stones and the butt ends of their muskets, 
with clubs, knives, even with their fists; but no such 
weapons could withstand British veterans, and the Amer- 
icans had to retreat. 

News of the battle went through the colonies like 
wildfire. All their lives the Americans had looked up 
to the British regulars as the greatest of soldiers : and 
they, the mitrained colonists who had never seen two 
regiments in battle, had twice driven them back ! The 
hill was lost, but to repulse the British regulars was 
a mighty victory. Couriers galloped from one colony 
to another to carry the news. Everywhere there was 
rejoicing; but Putnam could not bear to think that 
after such a fight the hill had at last been given up, 
and he growled indignantly, " We ought to have stood. 
Powder or no powder, we ought to have stood." 

OUTLmE 

Putnam's first visit to Boston — his life on a farm — the wolf 
hunt — in the French and Indian War — how he put out a fire 
— Putnam among the Indians — he captures a schooner — he 
becomes an innkeeper — what happened on April 20, 1775 — 



158 AMERICAN- HERO STORIES 

British and Americans both determine to seize the hills overlook- 
ing Boston — British scorn of the colonists — the battle of Bunker 
Hill — feelings of the Americans. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A soldier describes Putnam's putting out of the fire. 

Putnam's ride to Boston. 

Putnam tells his family about the battle of Bunker Hill. 



A CHRISTMAS SUEPEISE 

IT was Christmas night in 1776, the second year of 
the Revolutionary War, and the Hessian soldiers 
were making merry at Trenton. They were Germans 
who had been hired by the king of England to help him 
conquer the American rebels. Just then there was no 
fighting on hand. They had good warm quarters, plenty 
to eat, and plenty to drink. They feasted and they 
drank, they sang songs, and they told stories. They 
were in the best of spirits, for Washington, the com- 
mander-in-chief of the Americans, was retreating. 
" There won't be much more trouble from him," de- 
clared one soldier. " He had to leave the Hudson, and 
we have chased him out of 'New Jersey and into Peim- 
sylvania." 

"We'll soon be in Pennsylvania ourselves, in Phila- 
delphia," said another, " and that will be the end of the 



A CHRISTMAS SURPRISE 



159 




WASHINGTON AT THE DELAWARE 



war. They say Washington's troops are deserting by 
the hundred." 

The carousing went on until late in the night, and 
then the men went to their warm beds and to heavy 
sleep. 

About the time that their feasting began, Washing- 
ton marched his men down to the opposite bank of the 
Delaware. The ground was covered with snow. It 
was bitterly cold. The sleet was driving furiously. The 
river was full of masses of floating ice, pitching, tum- 
bling, and plunging in the strong current; but boats 
were waiting at the shore. They were rowed by fisher- 



160 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

men from Marblehead who knew how to meet storms. 
The soldiers got into the boats. The fishermen rowed 
and paddled, and pnshed away the cakes of ice with long 
poles. The wind blew more fnrionsly, the sleet was' 
more biting; bnt at last the boats came to the ^ew 
Jersey side of the river. The men leaped or tnmbled 
ashore as well as they conld in the storm and darkness. 
Then they swung their arms, they stamped their feet, 
they marched back and forth, they jumped, and they 
ran — anything to keep from freezing. The storm was 
growing worse; there was no shelter; and on the I'iver 
bank they must wait till the boats had been back and 
forth many times and had broiight the whole force across. 
Ten hours they waited, all through that terrible night 
of tempest. 

Trenton was nine miles away, but Washington had 
given the word to march on. One man was frozen to 
death, and a little later a second was overcome by the 
cold. " The muskets are wet and cannot be fired," an 
officer reported. 

" Use the bayonets, then," replied Washington ; " the 
town must be taken." And he pushed on toward Tren- 
ton. He divided his men into two parties, and in the 
early gray of the morning they entered the town by 
two different roads. 

Washington planted his cannon so as to sweep the 
streets. The Hessians rushed out, almost dazed by the 



A CHRISTMAS SURPRISE 161 

sudden attack. They ran in one direction, and a volley 
of musket balls met them ; they ran in another, and the 
cannon mowed them down; in another, and a bayonet 
charge drove them back. The commander ran out half- 
dressed and tried to form his lines, but he was shot 
down. In one hour Washington was master of the 
place. He had lost two 
men, and he had taken 
nearly one thousand pris- 
oners. 

The British general, 
Cornwallis, was in New 
York, getting ready to 
return to England; for 
he thought the rebellion 
of the colonies Avas so 
nearly over that he need 
not stay in America any 
longer. The news from 
Trenton was an unplea- 
sant surprise, but he 
started out promptly to 
crush that troublesome 
Washington, who never 
seemed to understand 
that he was beaten and who would not stay beaten. 

Cornwallis had more men than the Americans, and 




A HESSIAN GREXADIEK 



162 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

Washington did not want to fight a battle with him. 
" Cornwallis will come upon us, but keep him away as 
long as you can," was Washington's order to part of his 
troops; and therefore the British had a hard time in 
their march across N^ew Jersey to Trenton. A storm of 
bullets would come suddenly from some little thicket 
on one side of the road ; and by the time the trees had 
been well peppered with British shot, another leaden 
storm would come from some thicket on the other side. 
A few hundred men with two cannon were continually 
attacking him in front. He could make them retreat, 
but he could not make them hurry; and it was late in 
the afternoon when he came to Trenton. Washington 
was not in the town, but just across a stream that flows 
into the Delaware. The troops that had been such a 
torment to Cornwallis retreated across the bridge and 
joined their comrades. 

The British officers said, "Let us attack him at once." 
But Cornwallis replied, " No, our men are tired out, and 
it will soon be dark. He is safe enough. In the morning 
we shall have two thousand more troops, and we can 
shut him in between the stream and the Delaware. He 
will have to surrender, and then the rebellion will be 
over." He wrote a letter home which said, " We have 
run down the old fox, and we will bag him in the 
morning." 

There seemed nothing that Washington could do but 



A CHRISTMAS SURPRISE 163 

prepare to fight. All night long his camp-fires burned 
along the south side of the stream. The British senti- 
nels on the north side could see the men piling on wood, 
they could hear the noise of spades and pickaxes, they 




THE SITRRENDER OF COLONEL RALL AT THE BATTLE OF TREXTON 

could even hear the soldiers talking together. But when 
it began to grow light, the British found that Wash- 
ington and his army had slipped away quietly in the 
middle of the night. A few men had remained behind 
to keep the fires burning and make as much noise as 
possible with their spades and pickaxes; but they, too, 
were gone. They had run through the woods and joined 



164 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

their commander. The British were welcome to the 
gravel that had been shoveled np and to the ashes of 
the camp-fires, bnt nothing else was left for them. 
While Cornwallis stood on the bank of the stream gaz- 
ing across at the deserted camp, he heard the booming 
of cannon ten miles away. " That was from Princeton," 
he thonght. " The old fox is there already, and he will 
try to destroy onr stores at Brunswick." 

This was exactly what AVashington had planned to 
do. At Princeton he met the British forces just start- 
ing to go and help Cornwallis conquer him. There was 
a sharp fight, and the Americans won the day. Corn- 
wallis was in pursuit, of course, but there were several 
streams between the armies. They were badly swollen 
by a sudden thaw, and Washington had unkindly burned 
the bridges. The British marched with dripping uni- 
forms into the streets of Princeton, but Washington 
was not there. He had hoped to go on to Brunswick, 
but his men were too tired and too nearly barefooted 
for a march of eighteen miles. So he made his way to 
the heights of Morristown, and there he was safe for the 
winter. 

OUTLINE 

The Hessians at Trenton — the Christmas celebration — the 
soldiers talk of Washington — Washington crosses the Delaware 
— the storm — waiting on the shore — the march to Trenton — 
the capture of Trenton — Cornwallis pursues Washington to the 



A WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 165 

Delaware — Cornwallis postpones his attack — Washington sUps 
away — the battle of Princeton — Washington goes to Morris- 
town. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

One of Washmgton's soldiers describes the crossing of the 
Delaware. 

A Hessian soldier tells the story of Christmas night. 

The letter that Cornwallis wrote home on Christmas Eve, and 
the postscript that he added the day after Christmas. 



A WINTER AT YALLEY FORGE 

DURING the Revolution the British had the idea 
that it would be a great thing if they could take 
Philadelphia. They called it " the rebel capital," be- 
cause Congress had met there; and they did not seem 
to reahze that Congress could easily meet somewhere 
else. They marched into the city with colors flying and 
bands playing, and Washington could not prevent them. 
When they were once in, the best thing for him to do 
was to see that they did not get out to do any mischief; 
and so he chose for his winter quarters Yalley Forge, 
a place only a few miles from Philadelphia. There he 
could easily defend himself if he was attacked, and he 
could keep close watch of the British. 
" It would have been easier to fight many battles than 
to spend that winter in Yalley Forge. It was December, 



166 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

and thei-e was no shelter of any kind. Men and officers 
set to work bravely to build huts for themselves. These 
huts were of all sorts. Some were built of heavy logs. 
Their roofs were made of small trees wrapped with 
straw and laid side by side. Clay was spread on top of 
the straw, and s]3lints were laid on top of that. The 
windows were simply holes cut through the logs and 
covered with oiled paper. 

A house like this was looked upon as the height of 
luxury. Most of the huts were made of sods piled up, 



/, 




WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS AT VALLEY FORGE 

or fence rails or poles held together by twigs twisted in 
and out and daubed with clay. The snow sifted in at 
every little opening, the rain dripped thi-ough even the 



A WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 167 

best of" the roofs, and the wind howled and roared and 
blew in at every crevice. There were few blankets, and 
many brave defenders of their country lay on the frozen 
ground because they had not even straw to put under 
them. Sometimes they sat up all night, crowding up to 
the fires to keep from freezing. 

They were no better off for clothing than for houses. 
The whole army was in rags, which the soldiers' most 
skillful mending could hardly hold together. Many of 
the men had no shirts, even more were without shoes. 
Wherever they walked, the snow was marked with 
blood. Some cut' strips from their precious blankets, 
and wound them about their feet to protect them from 
the frozen ground. Food was scanty; sometimes for 
several days they were without meat, and some com- 
panies were once without bread for three days. When 
the word went around, " ^o meat to-night," the soldiers 
groaned, but they never yielded. 

The cause of these hardships was the fact that Con- 
gress had no power. It could say to a state, "We need 
money f oi* the army, and your share will be so much ; " 
but if the state did not choose to pay the tax. Congress 
could not force it to pay. It is said that while these 
brave soldiers were suffering in their rags, whole hogs- 
heads of clothes and shoes and stockings were waiting 
at different places on the roads until money to pay for 
teaming could be found. Sometimes the soldiers them- 



168 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

selves took the places of horses and oxen, and when 
they could learn of any supplies, dragged the wagons 
into camp. 

Washington shared all this suffering with his men, 
and he had even more to bear from fault-finders. The 
Pennsylvania legislature thought he ought not to shel- 
ter his men in huts at Valley Forge. " Why does n't he 
camp out in tents in the open field," they demanded, 
" and attack the British ? " This was too much for even 
Washington's patience, and he wrote a blunt letter to 
the legishiture, telhng them how little they were doing 
for the army. He said it was much easier to find fault 
" in a comfortable room by a good fireside than to camp 
upon a cold, bleak hill and sleep under frost and snow 
without clothes or blankets." 

T^ot all the soldiers were Americans by any means. 
Some of them were foreigners who had come to America 
to get what they could out of the country ; but there 
were also many who came, because they believed that the 
United States was in the right, and they wanted to help 
her win her independence. One of these true friends was 
a young Frenchman, the Marquis de Lafayette. For 
some time the Americans had been trying to persuade 
France to help them, but Lafayette could not bear to 
wait for his country to act. " The moment I heard of 
America, I loved her," he wrote. He fitted out a ship 
at his own cost and crossed the ocean. Then he asked 



A WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 169 

two " favors " of Congress, — to serve as a volunteer, and 
to pay his own expenses. Congress made him an officer, 
although he was only nineteen. He won the heart of the 
commander-in-chief at their first meeting, and from that 
day Washington trusted him as he trusted few people. 




WASHINGTOX AND LAFAYETTE AT VALLEY FORGE 

Lafayette was rich, a nobleman, and a favorite at the 
French court. He had lived in luxury all his days ; but 
he shared with Washington the hard hfe at Yalley 
Forge, never complaining, always bright and cheerful. 
All this time he was vn:-iting letters home, which did 
much to bring about something that delighted Washing- 



170 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

ton and " the boy," as the British scornfully called La- 
fayette. Word came across the sea that the French 
king had decided to help America. Then there was 
rejoicing at gloomy Yalley Forge. A day of thanks- 
giving was appointed. Prayer was offered, the troops 
were reviewed, thirteen cannon were fired, and at a 
signal the whole army shouted, " Long live the king 
of France !"- 

The French government had asked many questions 
about the American army. The answer was always the 
same, " They are brave and patient and determined, but 
they lack drill and discipline. They are splendid fight- 
ers, but they need to be taught how to fight together." 
There was a Prussian officer. Baron von Steuben, who 
was better prepared than any one else to teach what the 
army ought to know, and the French persuaded him to 
cross the ocean. 

The baron was amazed when he went to Yalley 
Forge and saw the miserable little huts and the starv- 
ing, half -naked men. " There is not a commander in 
Europe who could keep troops together a week if they 
were suffering like this," he declared. There was 
hardly any artillery and almost no cavalry. Many of 
the guns were not fit to use. Few of them had bayo- 
nets. That was a small matter, however, for the 
soldiers did not know what to do with bayonets, and 
had used them chiefly to broil meat with — when they 



A WINTER AT VALLEY FORGE 171 

were so fortunate as to have any meat. Baron von 
Steuben was horrified. He drilled and drilled. One 
minute he stormed at the ignorance of the men, and 




BARON VON STEUBEN 



the next he praised their quickness in learning some 
difficult movement. Then at their next blunder he 
stormed a^ain in a comical mixture of German and 



172 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

French and English. In spite of his scoldings, how- 
ever, he was devoted to the men and exceedingly 
proud of them. During that cruel winter many fell 
ill, and the hot-tempered baron went about from one 
wretched hut to another, doing everything that he could 
to help and cheer them. It is no wonder that they loved 
him and were eager to learn. 

The terrible winter at Yalley Forge came to an end 
at last. Out of the cold and hunger and sickness and 
suffering an army came forth that was stronger than 
before, an army that was " never beaten in a fair fight." 

OUTLINE 

The British march into Philadelphia, and Washhigton encamps 
at Valley Forge — the huts at Valley Forge — the need of l)lan- 
kets, clothes, and food — the cause of these hardships — gmmi- 
bhng of the fault-finders —Washington's reply — foreign soldiers 
— Lafayette — France promises help — the rejoicing at Valley 
Forge — character of the American army — the coming of Von 
Steuben — the condition of the soldiers — Von Steuben drills 
them — his kmdness to them. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A soldier tells his children of his hut at Valley Forge ; of La- 
fayette ; of Von Steuben, 



HOW "MAD ANTHONY" TOOK STONY POINT 173 

HOW "MAD ANTHONY" TOOK STONY 
t ' POINT 

IN the Revolutionary War the British were especially 
anxious to get possession of the Hudson Kiver. If 
they could only hold that, they could separate the 
American army into two parts, one in New^ England 
and one in the Middle and Southern States. Neither 
part could get out of its corner, and the British could 
conquer first one and then the other. In their first 
attempt to capture the Hudson they failed. Neai-ly two 
years later they seized a foi't on the i-iver at Stony 
Point. Then they began to send parties of soldiers to 
burn towns and kill Americans in Connecticut. 

Washington thought, " The British want me to send 
my men to protect the jjeople of Connecticut, and when 
my soldiers are fighting there, they will take more forts 
on the Hudson. I will not send my men away, but I 
will storm the fort at Stony Point, and then the British 
will have to leave Connecticut to help the army in New 
York." 

Stony Point was '' little but mighty." It was on a 
high point of land that ran out into the Hudson, and 
it was cut off from firm land by a swamp. Across 
the swamp ran a raised walk, but even this was over- 
flowed by the tide twice a day. The Americans had 



174 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

begun this fort; then the British had captured it and 
done eveiything they could to make it strong. They 
had piled entirely around it two rows of logs, rocks, 
briers, earth, or whatever else would be hard to cross. 
Farther up the hill were fortifications fairly bristUng 
with cannon. More than six hundred British were 
guarding the place. Such was the fort that Washing- 
ton determined must be taken. 

Who should be the leader? The fort must be cap- 
tured by a sudden dash; a man was needed who was 
not afraid of guns or soldiers, and he must be cool 
enough to think while balls were flying and bombs were 
exploding around- him. "• Anthony Wayne is the one," 
thought Washington. "- He does not know what it 
means to be afraid, and he always has his wits about 
him. He '11 storm anything on earth. If Stony Point 
can be taken, he will take it." 

Soldiers always nickname their favorite generals, and 
General Wayne they called " Mad Anthony " because 
he w^as so daring. They were ready to follow him any- 
where. When the night came that Washington had set, 
Wayne and his troops marched in Indian file silently 
up the bank of the Hudson. They came near enough 
to the black fort to hear the sentinel call, " Tw^elve 
o'clock ! All 's well ! " They crept on softly. It was 
high tide, and the swamp was a pond; but they marched 
straight in. Then the alarm was given. There was a 



HOW "MAD ANTHONY" TOOK STONY POINT 175 

clash of arms, a firing of muskets, a terrific blaze of 
cannon ; but the Americans pressed on as if the tempest 
of grapeshot were only a summer shower. Every man 
knew his place and his work. They formed in two col- 
umns, each headed by twenty men with axes, whose 
business it was to clear a way through the logs and rub- 
bish. They were mowed down by the grapeshot, but their 
work was done, and the two columns rushed in through 
the two gaps that 
they had made. In 
the cap of every 
man was a bit of 
white paper, so that 
in the darkness he 
would not be mis- 
taken for an ene- 
my. ]N^ot a gun was 
loaded. Such forts 
as Stony Point are 
not taken by mus- 
ket-balls. One col- 
umn tore up the 
hill from the right; 
General Wayne 
headed the other from the left. He was struck by a 
ball and fell. But his voice rang out in the horrible 
tumult, " Carry me into the fort, for I will die at the 




ANTHONY WAYNE 



176 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

head of my column ! March on ! " They caught him up 
and dashed forward. 

ISTothing could drive them back. They swarmed 
over the ramjDarts. They fought their way with better 
weapons than powder and shot. They were like a mov- 
ing wall of bristling steel, for Baron von Steuben had 
taught them how to use bayonets. The attack was so 
sudden, so well planned, so irresistible that nothing 
could turn them. In a few^ minutes Wayne's column 
was in the centre of the fort, and in front of them was 
the other line that had come up the other side of the 
hill. There was no silence then, but wild shouts, "Hur- 
rah ! hurrah ! hurrah ! " The fort was theirs, and the 
British garrison were their prisoners. Cannon, muskets, 
balls, powder, provisions were all in their hands. The 
general's wound was not so serious as he had thought, 
and he lived to do much more brave fighting for his 
country. 

The capture of the British stronghold without the 
firing of a gun was talked over in every camp. Baron 
von Steuben cried, " That is good, that is good. Now 
we are beginning to walk!" From Philadelphia came a 
letter to Wayne w hich said, '' You will be stunned with 
your own praises. Our streets for many days rang 
with nothing but the name of General Wayne. You 
are remembered constantly next to our good and great 
Washington ! " 



HOW "MAD ANTHONY" TOOK STONY POINT 177 




THE srortMlN(r OF STONY POINT 
" Cari-y ine into the fort, for I will die at the head of my column ! " 



One story that shows how quickly Wayiie could see 
what was the best move to make ought to be told here. 
He was in Virginia just before the end of the war. 
" The British have crossed the river. Only a small rear- 



178 AI^IERICAN HERO STORIES 

guard are left on this side. Attack them ! " This was 
the order given to him. He marched straight toward 
the British lines; but some one had made a mistake; be- 
fore him was no rear-guard, but the whole force of the 
British army, and he had only seven hundred men ! The 
enemy was already coming toward him. There were two 
or three things that he could do. He could surrender; 
but he objected to surrenders. He could retreat; but 
the British were in line ready to pursue, and he would 
be captured before he could fairly get to running. He 
could charge upon the great army and go down in his- 
tory as a man who would rather die than yield; but he 
preferred to stay alive and strike a few more blows at 
the British. In a moment he had decided. " Charge ! " 
he commanded, and the little band dashed forward so 
fearlessly that Cornwallis, the British commander, sup- 
posed a large force was behind them and began to bring 
his men together to repulse a general attack. Five min- 
utes more, and he would have learned his mistake; but 
Wayne did not give him the five minutes. The instant 
that Cornwallis had set his men in motion, Wayne cried, 
"About face! " And before the enemy had discovered 
what had happened, he was retreating in safey. 

There are many such stories as these of " Mad 
Anthony," the man who would dash upon the enemy 
like a tornado, and be as clear-headed in the midst of a • 
battle as in his own home. 



THE " SWAMP FOX " 179 

OUTLINE 

Why the British wished to hold the Hudson — their object in 
sending men to Connecticut — Washington plans to take Stony 
Pomt — situation of Stony Point — the choice of a leader — why 
called " Mad Anthony " — the march to the fort — the attack — 
Wayne is wounded — using the bayonets — capture of the fort — 
praise of the soldiers — the story of Wayne's charging the British 
army. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Washington tells his plan for storming Stony Point to " Mad 
Anthony," and asks him if he will take the lead. 
The march up the Hudson. 
A British soldier who was at Stony Point describes the attack. 



HOW THE "SWAMP FOX" MADE THE 
BRITISH MISERABLE 

AFTER the Britisli had been trying- for four years 
to conquer America and had not succeeded, they 
concluded that it would be an excellent plan to begin 
at the south and work toward the north. They did not 
find this an easy thing to do, and they had an especially 
hard time in South Carolina, all because of a slender, 
dark, silent, courteous little gentleman named Francis 
Marion. 

Marion brought together a few men and proceeded to 
make the enemy miserable. He had no money for uni- 



180 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

forms, and his men wore whatever they conld get. For 
arms, they carried anything that looked hke a gun; and 
if they wanted swords, they took saws to the country 
blacksmith and had them hammered into weapons which 
were not very handsome, bnt which they knew how to 
make useful. For bullets they melted pewter dishes and 

ran the metal into 
moulds. When there 
was nothing better, 
they used buckshot 
or even swanshot. 
For rations they ate 
whatever they could 
get; Marion himself 
could live for weeks 
on hominy or rice or 
potatoes. They had 
no pay, no hope of 
promotion, hardly 
any blankets ; but 
they had horses that 
could go like the wind, they had keen wits and muscles 
that were like steel, and they were devoted to their 
country. 

These were the men who were such a torment to the 
British. No one ever knew where they were. No one 
could tell how to avoid them. When twilight came. 




FRANCIS MARION 



THE "SWAMP FOX" 181 

Marion gave the order and they started for somewhere, 
he alone knew where. Sometimes they waded through 
a swamp, sometimes crept through fields and valleys 
close to the camp of the enemy, sometimes galloped 
fearlessly along the open road, sometimes stealthily 
followed on the track of the hostile lines. If ever 
any company of soldiers straggled away from the main 
army, then let them look out for Marion and his men ! 
There would be a sudden rush from some valley or 
thicket, the bullets would fly from all sides, and in 
five minutes those that had not been shot would find 
themselves prisoners. Wherever Marion's men went, 
some deed of daring always ended their journey. Once 
Marion actually galloped into a village where a com- 
pany of the enemy were encamped and seized the com- 
mander. There were not always guns enough to go 
around. Then the men waited patiently or fought with 
their blacksmith swords till guns could be taken from 
the enemy. One night Marion's scouts reported, " Some 
British soldiers are coming down by the river to-mor- 
row, and they will have with them one hundred and 
fifty American prisoners." " ForAvard march ! " com- 
manded Marion. He knew that the British would have 
to go through a narrow pass. He took possession of 
this, and when they came along early in the morning, 
his men attacked them both in front and behind so sud- 
denly that they lost their heads completely. They fired 



182 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

once and then forgot their prisoners and ran for their 
hves, while the rescuers laughed to see them go. 

Marion could look upon the British soldiers as men 
who were doing what they thought was their duty, but 
he had no patience with the Tories, as those Americans 
were called who stood by the king. If any Tories tried 
to hold a meeting, Marion was sure to find it out, and 
his bullets would go rattling among them. If he could 
hear of a Tory camp, his men would fall upon it like a 
whirlwind. Once after such a raid, one of his boldest 
riders chased the Tory commander at full gallop till 
both were far away from the rest of Marion's men. The 
other Tories, too, were fleeing for their lives; but sud- 
denly they turned. This pursuer saw nothing but the 
man whom he was chasing until in a moment he found 
the whole Tory force coming upon him. He did not 
hesitate an instant, but waved his sword and shouted 
over his shoulder^ "Come on, boys; here they are!" 
and then charged. The Tories never dreamed that he 
was alone, and they ran away faster than ever, lest they 
should be captured by the terrible " Swamp Fox." 

Marion's headquarters were on an island in the Pedee 
River. There the horses were always saddled, the men 
always ready. More volunteers flocked to this island, 
as daring, fearless, and devoted as his first followers. 
When they wished to go home, they went, l^o authority 
ever brought them back, but they always returned. 



THE "SWAMP FOX" 



183 



Marion was not always fortunate. His island encamp- 
ment was utterly destroyed, and for once he was dis- 




MARION ON A RAID 



couraged. " Go to my men," he said. " Tell them I may 
be forced to the mountains, and ask them if they will 
stand by me till the British are driven from the land." 



184 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

The answer came back, " Every man will stand by you 
till death." Then Marion was ready for anything. He 
set out to help General Lee capture a fort. At first 
matters looked almost hopeless. There stood the fort 
forty feet above them, safe and strong on a little mound. 
It would be the easiest thing in the world for the gar- 
rison to shoot any number of men trying to storm it. 
One of Marion's followers thought of a plan. At the 
word of command, they all disappeared into the forest. 
For five days and nights they chopped down trees, 
measured and cut and fitted the logs. Then came a 
night when they dragged them out and put them in 
place, and, behold, when the men in the fort gazed 
around in the morning, there stood a wooden tower, 
high enough to overlook their fort. A platform at the 
top was covered with men, all ready to fire at the word 
of command, and more of these sure marksmen were at 
the base. It is no wonder that the fort surrendered. 

Marion and his men did not make these wild raids 
for the sake of adventure. It was partly to torment and 
weaken the enemy and partly to encourage the patriots. 
Some soldiers fought for gain, for honors, for promo- 
tion ; but he and his followers fought for patriotism, for 
pure love of their country and devotion to freedom. 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 185 

OUTLINE 

The British plan to begin at the south and work toward the 
north — Marion's army — tlieir expeditions — some of their at- 
tacks — Marion and the Tories — Marion's headquarters — his 
misfortune and appeal to his men — how he captured a fort — 
why Marion fought. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

One of Marion's men tells how he got his arms and clothes; 
how the men rescued the prisoners at the pass; how the Tory 
commander was pursued. 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 

WHO GAVE THREE STATES TO THE UNION 

r 

OI^E day during the Revolution a bill was brought 
before the English Parliament for supplies needed 
to carry on the war with the colonies. One item on this 
bill was for scalping-knives. " What does this mean ? " 
demanded a member. " Have our soldiers become sav- 
ages ? Are they scalping our colonists ? " He was 
almost right. The English soldiers were not using 
scalping-knives, but Colonel Hamilton, governor of 
the country north of the Ohio, was giving them to the 
Indians to use in scalping Americans. 

This land had been in the hands of the French until 
Canada was conquered. Then the British took posses- 



186 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

sion of the forts. South of the Ohio there were many 
American colonists. They were bold, hardy people who 
had not been afraid to strike out into the wilderness 
and make homes for themselves far away from the cities 
and villages of the East. Hamilton hired the Indians to 
make attacks on these settlers. A colonist working in 
his field would be struck down by an Indian bullet; his 
wife and children would be fastened into their log cabin 
and burned to death. Some were taken prisoners, some 
were burned at the stake, some were horribly tortured. 
The settlers, men and women, held out bravely. Their 
guns were always loaded, they were always on their 
guard. " These are our homes," they said, " and we 
shall defend them." 

One of these courageous settlers was a young sur- 
veyor named George Rogers Clark. He was a good 
fighter; he was also a good thinker. He thought a 
good deal about the Indian attacks, and then he said 
to two young hunters, " Will you go north of the Ohio 
and find out how the French settlers feel toward us *? " 
A¥hen the hunters came back, they said, " Sometimes 
the French start out with the British and Indians and 
do a little fighting, but they don't really care a straw 
who wins. They are mightily afraid of us backwoods- 
men, though." 

Clark did not explain why he wanted to know about 
the people of the Ohio country. He said good-by and 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 



187 



set off over the mountains for Virginia. He had a long 
talk with Patrick Plenry, who was then governor. Gov- 
ernor Henry said, " It is a brilliant plan ; ])nt if it is 
going to succeed, not 
even the legislature 
must know of it, for it 
would be sure to leak 
out." 

" How much help can 
you give me ? " asked 
Clark. 

"We can give you a 
little money," the gov- 
ernor replied, " and we 
can publish a notice 
saying that you have 
the right to raise men 
to defend our colonists 
south of the Ohio. 
There i^ no need of 
saying how you mean 
to do it. We cannot do anything more without the vote 
of the legislature." 

For several months Clark worked to raise men, and 
then he and his fighters went on board their flatboats at 
Pittsburg. It was a thousand miles to the Mississippi, 
but on the way they heard news that cheered their 




GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 

From the portrait by Jarvis in possession 
of the Wisconsin Historical Society 



188 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

courageous hearts. " The king of France has decided 
at last," were the tidings, " and he is going to help us. 
He will give us money and ships and men." Ko better 
news could have come to Clark than this. He called 
his men together and told them his plan. " We try to 
defend one settlement," he said, " and the savages come 
down upon another. The only way to stop it is to keep 
the British from sending the Indians." 

*' That 's true enough," the men agreed, " but how do 
you propose to do that little thing ? " 

" I propose," replied Clark, " to go straight into the 
country north of the Ohio and capture their forts." 

" Whew ! " said the men. 

Clark went on, " The French don't care whether we 
or the English win ; but say to them, ' Your King 
Louis is on our side,' and they will prick up their ears. 
There '11 be no trouble with*the French." 

The men became as enthusiastic as their leader, and 
set off on a march of fifty miles. They forded rivers, 
waded through swamps, tramped over prairies, forced 
their way through forests, and finally came in the dark- 
ness close to the settlement of Kaskaskia. Clark had 
about two hundred men. One hundred he ordered to 
surround the village; to the other hundred he said, 
"Follow me. Our work is to take the fort." 

Clark had expected cannon balls, but there is a story 
that he was received with another kind of ball. As he 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 189 

quietly approached the fort, he heard laughter and mer- 
riment; then music struck up and dancing began. He 
slipped in through a little gate and stood in the doorway 
a minute before any one noticed him. Some Indians 
were in the room. One caught sight of him and gave a 
warwhoop. The dancers stopped as if they were turned 
to stone. The fiddler stood with his bow in the air and 
his mouth wide open. " Go on with your dancing," said 
Clark, " but understand that you are no longer subjects 
of the king of Great Britain. This place is in the hands 
of Virginia." This was true, for while Clark w^as con- 
quering the ballroom, his men had captured the officers 
of the fort. 

IS'obody thought of resisting. " Go to your houses," 
bade Clark. " The streets are in the hands of my men, 
and they have orders to shoot any one who appears 
outside his door." All night long the French hid away 
in the darkness of their houses, dreading what might 
come with the daylight. In the morning some of the 
principal men of the little place asked to see Clark. 
" Will you give us our lives ? " they pleaded. " We 
ask for nothing else, but do not put us to death." 

Now Clark never dreamed of such a thing as putting 
them to death, but he thought he could manage them 
better if they had first been badly frightened. " I am 
not here to kill any one," he replied. " The British have 
made slaves of you, and I have come to set you free. 



190 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

All I want is that yon should swear to be true to the 
Americans. I can give you a piece of news. Your King 
Louis of France is our friend, and he is going to send 
us ships and money." Then the people of the frightened 
little village were wild with delight. Take the oath of 
allegiance? Of course they would. They were only too 
hajDpy to take it. Vincennes and two or three other 
forts yielded. Many of the French joined Clark's lines 
and agreed to help fight the British. 

When Hamilton heard of this, he dashed off with a 
strong force and took Yincennes. Then he stopped. 
" There is no use in makin,g that hard march to Kas- 
kaskia before spring," he thought. " One hundred men 
can garrison this place." So he sent most of his troops 
back to Detroit. 

Unluckily for Hamilton, Clark was not afraid of a 
winter march, even one that was two hundred and forty 
miles long. Perhaps even he, however, did not guess 
what lay before him. He had a worse enemy to meet 
than bullets or cold or snow; and that was a February 
thaw. Floods came rolling down into the rivers, and 
every little stream became an angry torrent. The forest 
was deep in water, but the men clung to trees and bushes 
and floated on logs. A little " antic drummer," as Clark 
called him, floated over one river on his drum. The 
next stream was so deep that even these courageous 
men di'ew back. Clark lifted the little drummer to the 



GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 191 

shoulders of the giant of the company. The little fel- 
low beat thQ charge. " Forward march ! " cried Clark, 
and the men plunged into the river in the best of spirits. 
Sometimes the water was frozen over, and they had not 




THE LITTLE "ANTIC DRUMMER" 

only to wade through water breast-high, but to break 
their way through the thin ice. 

Hamilton saw tlT,eir cam23-fire one night, and sent out 
soldiers to find what it meant; but it did not occur to 
them to wade through a mile or two of deep water, and 
therefore they did not discover the Americans on what 



192 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

Clark called " a delightful dry sjiot." Clark dashed up 
to the fort and began to fire. Hamilton defended himself 
as well as he could, but soon he had to send out a flag 
of truce and surrender. 

Without these forts the British could not hold the 
Ohio country. American settlers poured into it; and 
when the Revolution was over and the time came to 
make a treaty of peace, the Americans said to England, 
"Your Canada comes as far south as the Great Lakes; 
but south of those the land is ours and is occupied by 
our settlers." Of this land, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois 
were made; and therefore these three states are the 
gift of George Rogers Clark. 

OUTLINE 

A bill for scalping- knives — settlers in the Ohio country — at- 
tacks of the Indians — George Rogers Clark sends out spies — 
their report — Clark's talk with Patrick Henry — Clark's jour- 
ney to Pittsburg — he hears good news — his plan — the march 
to Kaskaskia — Clark goes to a ball — an anxious night for the 
French — they go to see Clark — Hamilton takes Vincennes, but 
goes no farther — Clark meets a February thaw — how the 
drummer traveled — Hamilton surrenders — the Ohio country 
in American hands. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Clark tells his plan to Patrick Henry. 
AYhat Clark's men said of liis plan. 
The Kaskaskia fiddler tells of Clark's coming. 
The drummer tells how he crossed the rivers. 



JOHN PAUL JONES 193 

joh:n^ PAUL jo:n^es 

AND HIS SEA FIGHTS FOR AMERICA 

"fT^HAT little boat will never get into harbor in such 
J- a squall," cried a ship-owner excitedly. • 

" He '11 fetch her in," declared a Scotchman who sat 
calmly watching the small craft in her struggle against 
the wind. " That 's my boy John in the boat. This 
is n't much of a squall for him." 

The boat came in, and the ship-owner said, " John, 
I have a fine new vessel that is going to make a voyage 
to Virginia. If your father is willing, I will ship you 
as sailor." However the father may have felt, the boy 
was willing. He was only twelve, but for two years he 
had been begging to go to sea. 

So he made the voyage to Virginia and also many other 
voyages. Before he w^as twenty he was a captain, and 
a well-known one, too. He lived in Virginia for a time, 
and while there he made up his mind that England and 
her colonies would be at war before many years had 
passed. On leaving Virginia, he said to George Wash- 
ington, " Colonel, when the time comes that the colonies 
need me, I '11 be ready." The battle of Lexington took 
place only four months after he had made that sj^eech, 
and he immediately sailed away, in the service of the 
colonies. He captured a number of small English 



194 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

cruisers. One big frigate chased him, firing l)roadsides 
after him, and the captain probably became exceedingly 
angry, as Captain Jones saucily returned his broadsides 
with an occasional musket-shot. Two vessels that he 
took were full of supplies that had been meant for the 
# British army; and there was joy in Boston when two 
whole shiploads of tents, blankets, saddles, ammmiition, 

medicines, guns, cloaks, 
boots, and woolen shirts 
were landed. 

This was all very well, 
but Captain Jones want- 
ed to cross the ocean 
and show Bi'itain on her 
own coast what the new 
States could do. In 
Portsmouth ,jN^ew Hamp- 
shire, a ship named the 
Ranger had just been 
launched, and he was 
put in command. A 
few days earlier. Con- 
gress had decided that the flag of the United States 
should be " Thirteen Stripes, Alternate Red and White; 
that The U:n^ion be Thirteen Stars in a Blue Field." 
There was no flag for the Ranger ; but the Portsmouth 
girls put their heads together and planned a "quilting 




PAUL JONES 

From the portrait Ijy Peale in 

Independence Hall 



JOHN" PAUL JONES 195 

party." They did not sew on calico patchwork, how- 
ever, bnt on pieces of silk cut from their own best 
gowns. When they went home, they carried with them 
a beautifnl silken flag; and this they presented to Cap- 
tain Jones. He hnrried down from Boston to fly the 
new banner on the Fonrth of July, 1777, for the first 
time. Then he sailed away to see how many English 
banners he could lower. 

His first cruise was around the north of Ireland. In 
the hai'bor of Carrickfergus was the British man-of- 
war, the Drake. " The wind is wrong, and I will wait a 
little," thought Jones. So he sailed past the harbor and 
waited. Three days later, some fishermen said, " The 
Drake is coming out in search of you." 

" Good," cried Jones. " That will save me the trouble 
of going in after her." 

The Drake came out and hailed the stranger with, 
" What ship is that ? " 

" The American Continental ship Ranger," was the 
reply. " Come oU; we are waiting for you." 

Then came a battle. A Narragansett Indian boy from 
Martha's Yineyard was one of the seamen, and a most 
excellent one. His account of the battle was, '' I like 
to see the big gun shoot. I like to hear the big noise 
of much battle. It delights me to walk on the deck of 
the enemy's big boat when we have taken it. I think, 
by and by, we will take a much bigger boat than the 



196 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

Drake." This Avas quite big enough, however, to star- 
tle all England. Never before in modern times had 
a regular British man-of-war been captured by a less 
powerful vessel. For two hundred years England had 
been mistress of the seas, and she did not like this new 
way of doing things. 

England was still more angry before Captain Jones's 
work was over. He gave up the Ranger, though he 
held on to the silken flag that the Portsmouth gii'ls had 
made; and soon he was put in command of a larger ves- 
sel, the Bon Homme Richard. Off he sailed for the 
British Isles. He went up the Irish coast and around 
Scotland, capturing a vessel now and then to keep his 
hand in. Off Flamborough Head he caught sight of a 
fleet of merchant vessels protected b3^the Serapis. The 
merchant vessels sj^read all sail and scudded away for 
their lives. Captain Pearson of the Serapis hailed the 
stranger with, "What ship is that ? " There was no re- 
ply, but the Bon Homme Richard put herself in a good 
position for a fight. " That is probably Paul Jones," 
said Captain Pearson. " If so, there is work ahead." 

There was " work ahead." For two hours the firing 
went on. Then there was a moment's quiet. " Have you 
struck your colors yet ? " called Captain Pearson. 

" I have n't yet begun to fight," Captain Jones rephed. 
In the smoke and the darkness the two ships swung 
alongside. Captain Jones ordered them to be lashed 



JOHN PAUL JONES 197 

together, and he Mmself ran to help tie the ropes. Then 
came a most awf nl hand-to-hand combat in the darkness. 
Gnns bnrst, and a great heap of cannon cartridges caught 
fire and exploded. Wide gaps were torn ont of the 




FIGHT BETWEEN THE SERAl'IS AND THE BON HOMME RICHARD 
Frum a painting by Richard Paton 

sides of l3oth vessels. Worst of all, one of the French 
ships that should have assisted the Bon Homme Kichard 
was stuj^idly firing straight at her. " The ship is sink- 
ing ! " cried a gunner, "Quarter, quarter!" Captain 
Pearson heard this cry, and again called, '^ Have you 
struck?" 

" No ! " thundered Captain Jones. 

The master-at-arms had also heard the gunner's cry 
and had set free the prisoners that they had captured. 
" Go to the piunps," the captain commanded them. " If 



198 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

you won't pump, the ship goes to the bottom and you 
go with her!" 

At last the jBghtmg stopped. One ship had yielded, 
but in the tumult and the darkness hardly any one knew 
which. It was the Serapis. 

But the Bon Homme Richard was fast sinking. The 
water was six feet deep in her hold. Captain Jones 
left her and took possession of the Serapis. The Bon 
Homme Kichard rolled from side to side. She lurched 
and pitched and plunged. At the last her taffrail rose 
in the air for an instant, and the little silken flag that 
had never been conquered waved for the last time in 
the morning breeze. " And even now it is still flying 
somewhere at the bottom of the Korth Sea," said Cap- 
tain Jones, " over the battered wreck of the good old 
ship that sank, disdaining to strike it." 

After the war closed, there was nothing more for 
Captain Jones to do in America, and he entered the 
service of Russia. His love for the countr}^ for which 
he had done so much never grew less; and just before 
he went to Russia, he wrote to friends in America, " I 
can never renounce the glorious title of a citizen of the 
United States." When he died, he was buried in Paris; 
but many years later his body was brought to America 
and laid near the I^^aval Academy at Annapolis. He was 
the real founder of the American navy, and therefore it 
is most fitting that he should lie where American boys 




THE CAPTURE OF THE SERAPIS 



200 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

are trained to become brave seamen and defenders of 

their comitry. 

OUTLINE 

"John "in a squall — he goes to sea — his promise to Wash- 
ington — how he kept it — he plans a voyage to the British Isles 
— a flag for the Ranger — he meets the Drake — the Indian boy's 
account of the battle — England is startled — the Bon Ilomme 
Richard meets the Serapis — a terrible sea figh? — the Bon Ilomme 
Richard is abandoned and sinks — Jones enters the service of 
Russia — his love for America — his burial place. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

A Portsmouth girl tells the other gi s of her plan to make a 
flag. 

The letter that they wrote to Captain Jones. 

His reply, promising to be with them July 4, 1777. 



DANIEL BOONE 

THE KENTUCKY PIONEER 

NOT ev^ry American who was Hving at the time of 
the Revohition fought in the army. Some helped 
to raise money ; some aroused the interest of the Fi'ench 
in the strugghng colonies ; and some extended the power 
of the United States by pushing their way into what w\as 
then the " far West." Daniel Boone was one of these 
bold settlers. When he was a boy, he lived in the wil- 
derness of North Carolina. His father's house w^as built 



DANIEL BOONE 



201 



of great logs, notched at the ends so that they fitted 
together firmly. The spaces between them were made 
tight with clay. The roof was of rough boards, hewn 



from logs. The floor was 



made by cutting logs 
open in the middle and 
laying them side by side 
with the level surface 
up. A fireplace was 
built of stones; and it 
one, for 



was a 



large 




there was plenty -^^^f 
wood to be had for the 
cutting. Mr. Boone 
made his table by bor- 
ing four holes into the 
floor, driving in stakes, 
and putting split logs 
on top of them. It was 
not a very handsome 
table, but it never tipped 

over. The bedstead was made by letting two poles into 
the wall a few feet from the corner. At the place where 
they crossed, a stake was driven into the floor to hold 
them up. Upon these poles other poles and pieces of 
bark were laid. On top was placed a thick cushion of 
dried grass, and the whole was covered with a fur robe. 



DAXIEL BOONE 



202 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

As the boy grew up, other houses were built near this, 
and in one of them he found the young girl who became 
his wife. One day their home was visited by a hunter 
who had been far beyond the mountains to what is now 
Kentucky. He said it was a beautiful land, with mild 
climate, fertile soil, plenty of game and fruit, wide prai- 
ries, iioble rivers, and fine old forests. The more the 
two men talked of this wonderful land, the more Boone 
wanted to see it, and at length he and five others set 
out on a journey of hmidreds of miles through the wil- 
derness and over the mountains. He learned the coun- 
try thoroughly, and the more he saw of it the better he 
liked it. 

A little later, the governor of Virginia made war upon 
the Indians of Kentucky, and in this war Boone was one 
of the leaders. The Indians finally agreed to give up 
Kentucky to the whites; but when they found that a 
road was being cut through from the east to their old 
hunting-grounds, they were not pleased. Boone was in 
charge of this road-making. He and his party were fired 
at and several were killed. They w^ere only a little com- 
pany of backwoodsmen far away in the wilderness, but 
they had no idea of yielding. " ^ow is the time to keep 
the country, — while we are in it," Boone declared; and 
he set to work at once to build a fort on the Kentucky 
River. 

This fort, like many of those built in the forest in the 



DANIEL BOONE 203 

early days, was half fort and half village. First a clear- 
ing was made, and a rectangle marked out about twice 
as long as it was wide. Around the sides of this rectan- 
gle ten log ho;uses were built. Between the houses, 
heavy timbers, ten or twelve feet high and sharpened 
at the top, were driven into the ground close together; 
and in this way a stout fence, or palisade, was made. Few 
of the Indians of that part of the country had guns, and 
their arrows could not go through either the log houses or 
the palisade. If they attempted to come near, they would 
have to cross the large clearing, where there were no 
trees to dodge behind to escape the white men's bullets. 
If they succeeded in getting across the clearing and tried 
to put up ladders against the palisade in order to climb 
over, they would find that the corner houses projected a 
little beyond the others, and that in these houses small 
port-holes had been left, from which the white men 
could shoot. Indians very rarely besieged a place for any 
length of time; but if the whites kept themselves well 
supplied with food, even a siege would fail, for one cor- 
ner of the fort almost overhung the river, so they could 
be sure of plenty of water. 

Boone's wife and children were in North Carolina, 
and they were as eager to come to him in the new land 
as he was to have them. As soon as it was known how 
strong a fort had been built, others were ready to jour- 
ney to Boonesborough, as the new village was named. 



204 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

So long as these settlers stayed in the fort, they were 
safe ; but they soon found that whoever went beyond its 
walls was in danger of being shot down by an Indian 
arrow. After the Revolutionary War began, the British 
hired the savages to attack the Americans ; and^now the 
Indians were well supplied, not only with tomahawks 
but with gmis and powder. Hundreds of pioneers left 
the fertile lands of Kentucky and hurried back to the 
east. Boone and his family remained, and he became 
the guardian of the little company in the fort. 

They had water, and their guns had thus far been 
able to bring them food; but the salt had given out, and 
salt was a thing that they must have. " I will go for it," 
said Boone. With thirty men he started on a journey of 
one hmidred miles through a wilderness where at any 
moment hundreds of Indians, well armed with British 
guns, might fire at them. They reached the salt springs 
safely. jS^ight and day they worked, guns in hand, to 
l)oil the water and get the salt from it. For four weeks 
they were left alone, then they were suddenly attacked 
l^y four times their number of Indians and had to yield. 
They wei'e taken to Detroit, where the others were 
given up for ransom ; but the red men would not give up 
Boone for any sum. They had a plan to persuade him 
to live Avith them and become one of their chiefs. He 
guessed this and pretended to be satisfied. " Now we 
will adopt you," they said. But most people would 



DANIEL BOONE 205 

have preferred not to be adopted, for part of the cere- 
mony was plucking out all his hair except the scalp-lock. 
Then he was 
taken to the 
river and washed 
to make sure that 
no white blood 
was left in him, 
and after his face 
was painted he 
made a very good 
chief. 

The Indians 
were too shrewd 
to believe that 
Boone would not 
go home if he 
had . a chance ; 
so when he went 
out to hunt, they 
counted his balls 

and measured his powder. They knew that 
if he had no ammunition he would not at- 
tempt to run away, for without it he would 
soon starve in the forest. He did save up ammunition, 
however, in spite of them, for he used no more than 
was absolutely necessary and cut every bullet in two. 




BOONE AMOX 



206 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

One wise thing that Boone did when he was captnred 
was to pretend to know nothing of the language of the 
Indians, though he really undei'stood everything that 
they said. They talked freely before him, and he learned 
that they were planning to attack Boonesborough. The 
war-dances were held, and Boone joined in them. But 
one morning he went out to hunt and did not return. 
Five days later there was great rejoicing in the fort, 
for Boone had come back, though they had thought him 
surely dead. He w^as none too soon. In a little while 
a body of Indians marched upon the fort. "In the 
name of his Majesty King George of Great Britain, we 
summon you to surrender," they said. There were ten 
times as many of the enemy as there were settlers, but 
Boone replfed, " We shall defend our fort so long as 
one man is alive." 

Then came fierce fighting that went on day and night 
for nine days. One day the Americans noticed that the 
water of the river was becoming muddy, and they knew 
that the enemy were digging in from the bank to un- 
dermine the fort. They broke up this plan by digging 
another passage to cut the first. The Indians shot fire- 
arrows to try to set fire to the fort, but the Americans 
were too watchful to allow them to do any damage. 
At last the Indians gave it up and went away. Boone 
said quietly that they had been very industrious, for one 
hundred and twenty-five pounds of l)ullets was picked 



MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK 207 

11]) ill the fort, besides what stuck in the logs. ^Never 
again did the Indians attempt to take Boonesboroiigh. 
Daniel Boone had explored the country, made a road to 
it, brought in settlers, and defended them. 

OUTLINE 

Different ways of helping in the Revohition — Daniel Boone's 
early home — his marriage — he hears of Kentucky — goes to see 
it — fights the Indians — his road-making — building a fort — a 
defense against the Indians — new settlers arrive — dangers from 
Indians — Boone goes for salt — captured and taken to Detroit — 
adopted by the Indians — closely watched — learns their plans 
— escapes — attack on the fort — the repulse — what Boone did for 
Kentucky. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Who helped the country most, — those who raised money, those 
who aroused mterest, or those who settled in the wilderness ? 

Indians describe an attempt to take a fort. 

Boone's daughter sees her father coming after his escape from 
the Indians. 



MEKIAVETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM 
CLARK 

WHO SHOWED THE WAY TO THE PACIFIC 

AT the close of the Revolution, the United States 
owned all the land from the Atlantic to the Mis- 
sissippi and from Canacta to Florida. France had lost 



208 AMERICAX HERO STORIES 

Canada, but she still held the country between the Mis- 
sissipj)! and the Rocky Mountains. About twenty years 
after the war France needed money, and she sold this 
land to the United States at about two and a half cents 
an acre. The next thing was to find out what kind of 
country had been bought. The government asked Meri- 
wether Lewis and William Clark, brother of George 
Rogers Clark, to explore it. It was thought that the 
best way would be to follow up the Missouri River, then 
to enter the Columbia River, and so get to the Pacific 
Ocean; but no one had any idea where the sources of 
the two rivers might be. The only way to learn was to 
go and find out. 

ISlo one Imew what dangers there would be. There 
were stories of mountains so lofty that no man could 
ever climb them; of Indians more fierce and more cruel 
than any that had been known ; but the stout-hearted 
company set out, not in the least frightened by all these 
tales. There were forty men or more in the party, the 
wife of the interpreter, and her baby, the youngest of 
American explorers. 

This company was to do much more than simply to 
push through to the Pacific Ocean. They were to note 
the mountains and valleys and rivers; to draw maps 
showing where there were rapids or falls; to see what 
kinds of soil, trees, flowers, fruit, animals, and minerals 
there were in different parts of the country. In short, 



MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK 209 

they were to keep their eyes open, and on their return to 
tell the government where they had been and what they 
had seen. One thing more they were to do, the most 
important of all, and that was to make friends Avith the 
Indians, to learn how they lived and what lands each 
tribe claimed, and especially to open the way for trad- 



ing with them. 



It seems like going back to the days of 




«:,/^£/U,^>TA,5^%e,A- <3i<deyJrLy<^^^ 



Champlain to read the list of what the travelers carried 
to give or sell to the red men. There were beads, paints, 
loiives, mirrors, red tronsers, coats made gorgeons with 
gilt braid, and many other things that would please the 
savages. 

Then they set ont on a jonrney which proved to be 



210 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

two years and four months long-. And such wonders as 
they saw ! In one phice the water had worn away the 
earth into such shapes that the explorers were sure 
they had come upon an ancient fort. In another was a 
wide river with bed and banks and falls and rapids, 
but not one drop of water. There were antelopes and 
prairie dogs and other animals which were new to them. 
There were buffaloes so tame that they had to be driven 
out of the way with sticks and stones. There were water- 
falls so high that the water fell part way, then broke 
into mist, but gathered together again and made a 
second fall, which seemed to come from a cloud. 

There were some things to meet that were not quite 
so interesting as double waterfalls. There were brown 
bears and black bears and grizzly bears, all anxious to 
greet them with a hug. There were long marches over 
ground covered with sharp pieces of flint, and there 
were other marches over plains where the thorns of the 
prickly pear pierced their shoes as if they were only 
paper. Sometimes they were driven half wild with 
clouds of mosquitoes. " The Musquetoes were so nu- 
merous that I could not keep them off my gun long 
enough to take sight and by that means Missed," wrote 
Captain Clark in his journal. Captain Lewis once was 
separated from his men for a few hours, and in that 
time he met a grizzly bear, a wolverine, and three buf- 
falo bulls, all of which showed fight. Again he lay doAvn 



MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK 211 

under a tree, and when he woke he" found that he had 
had a big rattlesnake for next-door neighbor. He nailed 
a letter upon a tree for some members of tlie party who 
were to come after him ; but when they came they found 
that the beavers had gnawed the tree down, carried it 
away to use in their dams, and so had stolen the whole 
post-office. One night the company camped on a sand- 
bar in the river ; but they were hardly sound asleep 
before the guards cried, " Get up! Get up! Sand bar's 
a-sinking! " They jumped into the boats and pulled for 
the farther shore, but before they reached it the sand- 
bar was out of sight. There were other disturbances 
of their dreams. Another night they camped near an 
island which proved to be the home of ducks and geese 
and other wild fowl that quacked and hissed and made 
all the noises that they knew how to make, while the 
tired men rolled and tumbled and wished they had more 
quiet neighbors. Another night a buffalo dashed into 
their camp and ran between two rows of sleepers. And 
to cap the climax, the baby explorer had the mumps and 
was cutting teeth and cried all night. 

Getting food was not always an easy matter. In one 
place they exchanged roast meat, pork, flour, and meal for 
watermelons ; but they had not often so luxurious fare. 
Frequently they had nothing but a little flour or meal, 
and for a long while they lived on horse-flesh and dog- 
flesh. Often they were glad to buy eatable roots of the 



212 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

Indians. Sometimes the Indians refnsed to sell. On 
one sncli occasion, Captain Clark threw a port-fire 
match into the fire, and then took ont his compass and 
with a bit of steel made the needle whirl I'onnd and 
ronnd. The Indians were so terrified that the women hid 
behind the men, ahd the men hurried to bring him the 
roots that they had sullenly refused to sell. On the 
Fourth of July the explorers lived in luxury, for they 
feasted on bacon, beans, suet dumplings, and buffalo 
meat; but when Christmas came they had nothing but 
stale meat, fish, and a few roots. The Indians once 
cooked them some meat by laying it on pine branches 
under which were hot stones. More branches were put 
on top of the meat, then a layer of meat, then another 
layer of branches. Water was poured upon the mass, 
and three or four inches of earth spread over the whole 
heap. The white men did not like the flavor of pine, but 
they admitted that the meat was tender. 

They tried to make friends with the Indians wherever 
they went, by giving them medals and other trinkets 
that they had l)i'ought. They told them about the Great 
Father in Washington who Avished them to be his chil- 
dren, and who would always be kind to them. Sometimes 
they shared their food with the red men. One Indian ate 
a piece of dried squash and said it was the best thing- 
he hnd ever tasted except a lump of sugar that some 
member of the party had given him. One tribe to whom 



MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK 213 

they offered whiskey refused it. " I am surjDrised," said 
the chief, " that our father should give us a drink that 
would make us fools." 

Talking witlr the Indians was not always easy. This 
is tlie way it was sometimes done. Captain Lewis or 
Captain Clark' spoke in English; one of the men put 




LEWIS AND CLARK MEETING THE INDIANS 
(By courtesy of the Northern Pacitic Railway) 

what he had said into French; the interpreter put it 
into an Indian dialect that his Indian wife understood; 
she put it into another tongue which a young Indian in 
the party understood; and he translated it into the hm- 
guage of the tribe with whom they wished to talk. It 
w^as no wonder that whenever it was possible they 



214 AMEFJCAN HERO STORIES 

avoided this roundabout method and used the language 
of signs. When a man wished to say, for instance, '' I 
have been gone three nights," he had only to rest his 
head on his hand to suggest sleep and to hold up three 
fingers. He could say, *' I came on horseback " by point- 
ing to himself and then placing two fingers of his right 
hand astride his left wrist. To hold a blanket by two 
corners, shake it over the head, and unfold it, meant 
"I am your friend; come and sit on my blanket." If 
the Indian accepted the invitation, the next scene w^as 
not very agreeable; for he woukVwish to embrace the 
white man and rub his cheek, thick with red paint, on 
that of his new friend. 

One language was understood by all, the language of 
gifts. A string of beads went a long w^ay in wimiing 
friends. The red men had their fashions in beads, how- 
ever; blue or wdiite beads wei'c very welcome, but they 
cared little for other colors. They were fond of dan- 
cing. One evening several hundred Indians seated them- 
selves aromid the white men's camp and waited till the 
violin struck up and a dance took place. After an hour 
or two, the w hite men said, " IS^ow it is your turn. Show 
us how you dance." The red men and women and chil- 
dren sprang to their feet and crowded together around 
an open space. A few young braves leaped into the 
space and carried on something that might be called a 
dance ; but all that the rest of the company did was to 



MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK 215 



sing and jump np 
and down in time 
with the music. 
They were as fond 
of games as of dan- 
cing. The most com- 
mon game was one 
often played now b}^ 
white children. A 
man passed a tiny 
piece of bone back 
and forth from one 
hand to the other, 
then held out both 
hands closed. The 
one who was playing 
against him pointed 
to the hand in which 
he thought the bone 
was. If he guessed 
right, he won the 
blue beads or what- 
ever else the prize 
might be. If he lost, the other man won it. 

So it was that, dancing, climbing mountains, shooting 
rapids, killing bears and mosquitoes, dragging canoes up 
rivers, making friends with the Indians, eating or fast- 




SACAJAWEA, THE INDIAN W():\rAN WHO 
GUIDED LEWIS AND CLARK 



216 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

ing, the brave explorers made their way to the source of 
the Missouri, a streamlet so narrow that one of the men 
took his stand with one foot on either bank. Three- 
quarters of a mile farther, they came to a creek running 
to the westward. This was one of the branches of the 
Columbia. Onward they went, and at last they stood 
on the shore of the Pacific. It was the rainy season. 
Their clothes and bedding were always wet, and they 
had nothing to eat but dried fish. It is no w^onder that 
they did not feel delighted with the scenery. Captain 
Clark wrote in his journal that the ocean was " tempes- 
tuous and horrible." 

At last they started on the long journey back to the east. 
There were the same dangers to go through again, ])ut 
finally they came to the homes of white men ; and when 
they caught sight of cows feeding on the banks of the 
river, they all shouted with joy, the herds looked so calm 
and restful and homelike. When they reached the vil- 
lage of St. Louis, they received a hearty welcome, for 
all supposed that they had perished in the wilderness. 
These courageous, patient men had done much more 
than to explore a wild country. Just as Columbus had 
made a path across the Atlantic, so they had made a 
path to the Pacific. They showed the way; and the 
thousands who have made the western country into 
farms and villages and cities have only followed in the 
footsteps of these fearless explorers. 



MERIWETHER LEWIS AND WILLIAM CLARK 217 

OUTLINE 

Growth of the United States — plans for exploration — the com- 
pany sets out — the aims of the explorers — goods for barter — ■ 
what Avonders were seen — hardships of the journey — wild ani- 
mals that they met — a stolen post-office — a sinking' sandbar — 
noisy neighbors — getting food — an Indian way of cooking — 
making friends with the Indians — difficulty of talking with the In- 
dians — the sign language — gifts to the Indians — an Indian dance 
-r- Indian games — the source of the Missouri — a branch of the 
Columbia" — the shore of the Pacific — the journey home — the 
welcome — what the explorers had done. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WIUTTEN WORK. 

A boy tells why he wants to go with Lewis and Clark. 
Which articles carried by the explorers for barter would be most 
valued by the Indians ? 

The greatest hardship that the explorers had to meet. 




218 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 

WHO CAPTURED A BRITISH FLEET 

WHEN the children born at the close of the Revo- 
lution had become men and Avomen, another war, 
known as the war of- 1812, broke out between England 
and the United States. During this war both parties 
were anxious to get control of Lake Erie. The Ameri- 
can government decided to build some ships on the lake, 
and appointed Oliver Hazard Perry, a young man of 
twenty-seven, commander of the fleet. He and his 
younger brother set out in an open sleigh for Erie, where 
the vessels were to be built. Perry found that the gov- 
ei'nment was not a very good builder of ships. There 
was no seasoned timber, no iron, no canvas, ropes, an- 
chors, cannon, muskets, balls, or cartridges. Worst of 
all, there were no shipbuilders. The men to whom the 
order to build had been given had done as well as they 
could. They had sent for shipbuilders to IS^ew York and 
Philadelphia, a journey of four or five weeks, and in the 
mean time they had set house-carpenters to work. 

Luckily, the young commander had taken charge of 
building a fleet before, and after he came there w^as no 
more delay. The shipbuilders arrived who had started 
some time before ; trees were cut down in the forest, 
dragged to the shipyard, cut into beams and planks, and 



OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 219 

made into parts of vessels, — all within twelve hours. 
Men were sent in various directions to get what was 
needed. They scoured the country for iron and brought 
in hinges, locks, chains, old kettles, wheel-tires, bars, 
and bolts from wherever they could be found. Guns 
and amnumition and whatever else was needed were 
hurried in. In less than two months after Perry arrived, 
three gunboats w^ere launched, and two sloops were 
ready a few weeks later. 

The British knew what was going on at Erie, but 
Perry's guard kept close watch that no one should slip 
up to the vessels in the night and set them on fire. There 
was no danger from the British ships on the lake, for in 
front of Erie stretched a long sand-bar which no ship 
drawing more than seven feet of Avater could sail across. 
Of course Perry's vessels must get over the bar in some 
way, and Captain Barclay, the British commander, was 
watching closely. " That will be slow w^ork," he said 
to himself, " and when they begin to go over the bar is 
the time for me." 

Unfoi-tunately for Captain Barclay, he was invited 
to dinner on the other side of the lake, and accepted the 
invitation. Perry, too, had been watching. " This is the 
time for me," he said, and gave the order to cross. His 
flagship, the Lawrence, was the largest of the fleet. She 
was brought up to the bar with a big scow on each side. 
The scows were nearly filled with water, and while they 



220 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

were very low in the water, blocks were piled upon them. 
Then the w^ater was punijjed out, and as they rose, they 
struck against stout beams which had been pushed into 
the port-holes of the Lawrence and lifted the vessel safely 
over the bar. The other ships came across with less 
trouble. 

Captain Barclay had hoped to capture a ship while it 
was crossing, but he was in no hurry to have a general 
battle. He, too, was building a ship, the Detroit, and 
he meant to have it finished before any fighting began. 
Therefore he slipped away and got out of sight as fast 
as possible. He had not a great supply of provisions, 
but he waited a month for his new vessel and then sailed 
out, ready for a fight. Perry, too, was ready. Upon his 
flagship he ran up a blue flag on which in clear white 
letters was Lawrence's dying command, " Don't give up 
the ship ! " 

On the Detroit the musicians played " Rule, Britan- 
nia ! — Britannia, rule the waves ! " A bugte w as sounded. 
" Hurrah ! Hurrah ! Hurrah ! " shouted the men on the 
British vessels. Then the combat began, and a feai-ful 
combat it was. The Lawrence became only a shattered 
hulk. " Perry has lost his flagship," thought the Brit- 
ish, '■'■ and he will soon surrender." But Perry had no 
such intention. He wrapped his flag around his arm, 
then he and his brother, with four seamen to row them, 
leaped into a boat. The seamen pulled with all their 




w 

W 3 

w ? 

O ^ 



>3 '^^ 

Pi ^ 



222 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

might. At first the smoke hid them from their enemies ; 
then the British caught siglit of them and fired volley 
after volley. Two bullets went through the boy's cap, 
but no one was injured; and in fifteen minutes after they 
left the Lawrence, Perry had run up his flag on the 
Niagara, and, with his new flagship, was all ready for 
another battle. It was a short one, and then came the 
surrender of the British. It was the first time that Eng- 
land had ever lost a whole squadron, but now she sur- 
rendered one, not to an old experienced commander, but 
to a young man of twenty-seven who had never before 
even seen a naval battle. 

The first thing to do was to report to the Secretary 
of the ISTavy. Perry must have enjoyed writing that 
report, for he had begged the secretary more than once 
to be sent where there was likely to be fighting, and 
that oflflcial had paid no attention to his request. While 
he was building the ships, he had almost pleaded for 
men. " Give me men, sir," he had said to Commodore 
Chauncey, " and I will gain both for you and myself 
honor and glory on this lake or perish in the attempt." 
After writing his formal report to the Secretary of the 
I^avy, he sent off his famous note to General Harrison, 
which said, " We have met the enemy and they are 
ours." 

The British had been planning to invade what was 
then called the Northwest Territorv, that is, the land 



OLIVER HAZARD PERRY 223 

now forming' Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois ; but now that 
Perry had captured their fleet, he had control of Lake 
Erie, and all their plans of invasion came to nothing. 
It is no wonder that the whole country rang with the 
praises of the young victor. Congress formally thanked 
him, promoted him, and gave him a medal. Cities took 
holidays, rang their bells, fired their guns, and illumi- 
nated their houses in his honor. Everybody who could 
make two lines rhyme set to work to w^rite a poem 
about him. Boston gave him a silver service. Other 
cities gave him swords, and as for votes of thanks, 
the land fairly echoed with them. 

This was not the end of Perry's service by any means, 
for he had much more to do for his country before the 
war was over. One thing was to help defend Balti- 
more when the British fleet w^as trying its best to cap- 
ture her forts. His life was short, for only seven years 
after the war of 1812 began, he died in South America. 
Congress sent a man-of-war to bring home his body that 
it might rest in the land which he had so bravely helped 
to defend. 

OUTLINE 

Ships to be built on Lake Erie — Perry goes to Lake Erie — the 
government a poor shipbuilder — work is begun — getting iron — 
setting a watch — advantage of the sand-bar — Captain Barclay's 
plans — what happened when he went to dinner — he avoids a bat- 
tle — the two flagships — Perry loses his flagship — he finds a new 



224 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

one — the British surrender — Perry's report and note to General 
Harrison — value of this victory — celebration of the victory — 
Perry's further service — his death. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Perry's brother describes : — building the ships ; getting the 
Lawrence over the bar ; the battle. 



DOLLY MADISON 

WHO GUARDED THE NATION'S TREASURES 

" TAOLLY," asked President Madison of his wife, 

_L^ " have yon the eonrag-e to stay here till I come 
back to-morrow or next day ? " 

" I am not afraid of an^^thing if only yon are not 
harmed and onr army sncceeds," was her repl} . 

" Good-b}", then, take care of yonrself , and if any- 
thing happens, look ont for the Cabinet papers," said 
the President, and rode away to where the militia was 
gathering. 

There was good reason for Mrs. Madison to be anx- 
ions abont her hnsband and abont the snccess of the 
Americans. It was now 1814; America and England 
had been fighting for two years. Many people thonght 
that the President had been wrong in resorting to war. 
Letters had been sent him which said, " If this war does 
not come to an end soon, yon will be poisoned." The 



DOLLY MADISON 



225 



city of Washington, too, was in great danger. Four 
days earlier a messenger had ridden up at full speed to 
say, " Fifty British ships are anchoi'ing off the Potomac." 
]N^early all the men hurried to the front to try to oppose 
the enemy. People in Washington were carrying their 
property away to the country. Still the little lady at the 
White House did not 
run away. She had the 
public papers to guard, 
and she would not go. 

Besides the papers, 
there was another of 
the nation's treasures in 
the house, a fine por- 
trait of George Wash- 
ington by the famous 
artist, Gilbert Stuart. 
The son of Washing- 
ton's stepson came to 
Mrs. Madison to plan 
for its safety. " What- 
ever ha]:>pens, that shall 
be cared for," she had 
promised him. 

At last a note came 
to her from the President. " The enemy are stronger 
than we heard at first," it said. " They may reach the 




DOT.LV MADISON 



226 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

city and destroy it. Be ready to leave at a moment's 
warning." 

Most of her friends had already gone, but lier faithful 
servants were with her. '' Bring me as many trunks as 
my carriage Avill hold," she ordered; and then she set to 
work to fill them with the Declaration of Independence 
and the other paj)ers that were of value to the whole 
nation. 

Xight came, but there was no rest for the lady of the 
White House. As soon as the sun rose, she was at the 
windows with a spy-glass, gazing in every direction and 
hoping to catch a glimpse of her husband. All she could 
see was clouds of dust, here and there a group of sol- 
diers wandering about, and little companies of fright- 
ened women and children, hurrying to the bridge across 
the Potomac. She began to hear the roar of cannon, and 
she knew that a battle was going on ; still the President 
did not come. There was nothing to do but wait. It was 
of no use to pack the silver and other valuables, for 
every wagon had been seized long before, and not one 
was left for even the wife of the President. 

At three o'clock two men, covered with dust, gal- 
loped up and cried, " You must fly, or the house will be 
burned over your head." 

" I shall wait here for the President," was her repl3^ 

A wagon came rumbling along. Some good friends 
had at last succeeded in getting it for her. She had it 



DOLLY MADISON 227 

filled with silver and other valuables. " Take them to 
the Bank of Maryland," she ordered; but she said to 
herself, " The Bank of Maryland or the hands of the 
British — who knows which it will be? " 

Two or three friends came to hurry her away. " The 
British will burn the house," they said. " They will 
take you prisoner; they boast that they will carry the 
President and his wife to England and make a show of 
them." 

They were almost lifting her to her carriage, when 
she said, " IS^ot yet. The picture of AYashington shall 
never fall into the hands of the enemy. That must be 
taken away before I leave the house." This picture was 
in a heavy frame that was firmly screwed to the wall, 
and with what tools were at hand it could not be easily 
loosened. " Get an axe and break the frame," Mrs. 
Madison bade her servants. This was done, the canvas 
was taken from the stretcher, carefully rolled up, and 
sent to a safe place. Then the carriage with Mrs. Mad- 
ison was driven rapidly away. 

She left the house none too soon, for the British were 
upon the city. They broke into the White House. They 
stole what they could carry off with them, and set fire 
to the rest. They fired the navy yard, the Treasury 
building, the public libraries, and the new Capitol. The 
British Admiral Cockburn had a special spite against 
one of the Washington newspapers because it had 



228 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

printed some bitter articles about his savage burning of 
defenseless villages along the coast. " Burn that of- 
fice," he commanded, " and l)e sure that all the C's are 
destroyed, so that the rascals cannot abuse my name any 
longer." It is said that he jumped down from his horse 
and kindled the fire with his own hand. 

At night a fearful tempest swept over the city. Trees 
were blown down and houses w ere uiu'oof ed. When the 
storm burst, Mrs. Madison was j^leading for shelter at a 
little tavern sixteen miles from Washington. She had 
seen the President, and he had told her to meet him at 
this place. The house was full of people who had fled 
from the city. " Stay out," they cried. " Tour husband 
brought on this war, and his wife shall have no shelter 
in the same house with us." At last, however, they let 
her in. The President found his way to her later, almost 
exhausted; but before he had had an hour of rest, a 
man threw open the door, so out of breath that he could 
only gasp, " The British — they know you are here — 
fly ! " Mrs. Madison begged him to go, and finally he 
yielded and escaped to a little hut in the woods where 
he could be safe. " I will disguise myself and go to 
some safer place," she promised; and in the first gray of 
the morning she left the tavern. On the way she heard 
the best of news: "The British heard that reinforce- 
ments were coming and they have gone to their ships." 
Then she turned around and drove toward the city ; but 



DOLLY MADISON 229 

when she came to the bridge over»the Potomac, it was 
afire. An American officer stood by. " Will you row 
me across the river ? " she begged, for a little boat was 




THE STUART PORTRAIT OF WASHIXOTOX 



moored to the batik. " No," he replied, " we don't let 
strange women into the city." In vain she pleaded, but 
he Avas firm. " Who knows what you are ? " he demanded 
roughly. " We have had spies enough here. How do I 



230 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

know but the British have sent you to burn what they 
left? You will not cross the river, — that is sure." 

" But I am Mrs. Madison, the wife of your Presi- 
dent," she said, and threw off her disguise. 

Even then he could hardly be persuaded to row her 
across, but finally he yielded. Through clouds of smoke 
she made her way past heaps of smouldering ruins to 
the home of her sister, where she awaited the coming 
of the President. 

Such were five days in the life of a " first lady of the 
land." 

OUTLINE 

The President's farewell to his wife — cause for anxiety — trea- 
sures in the White House — a warning sent to Mrs. Madison — 
she makes ready to leave — what she sees from the windows — a 
wagon is packed — she saves the portrait of Washington — be- 
havior of the British in W^ashington — Mrs. Madison in the storm 
— the President comes to her — he hides in the woods — Mrs. 
Madison hears good news — difiBculty in crossing the Potomac — 
she finds safety. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

Mrs. Madison tells what she saw from the windows Avith her 
glass. 

Saving Washington's portrait. 

Mrs. Madison tells her sister of her experience in the storm. 



THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 231 



THE STAK-SPAXGLED BAXJS^EK 

I'N 1814, while the War of 1812 was still going on, 
the people of Maryland were in great trouble, for a 
British Heet had sailed into Chesapeake Bay. The can- 
non wonld be aimed at some town, but no one knew 
which. The ships sailed up one river, then came back 
and sailed up another, as if they had not decided where 
to go. The people who lived on the banks of these 
I'ivers fired alarm guns and lighted signal fires to let 
those who lived inland Imow that danger was near. The 
ships lingered, hesitated, then suddenly spread all sail 
and ran to the north up the Bay. " They will surely 
attack us," thought the people of Annapolis, and they 
crammed their household goods into wagons and carts, 
even into wheelbarrows, and hurried away to the coim- 
try as fast as they could. But the ships sailed past 
Annapolis. Then there was no question which town was 
to be attacked; it was Baltimore. 

As the fleet sailed on. General Ross, the British com- 
mander, spoke of his plans. " I shall have my winter 
quarters in Baltimore," he said. 

" What about the American militia, general ? " asked 
one of his oflScers playfully. 

" Militia ? " replied Ross ; '' I don't care a straw if it 
rains militia." 



232 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

The fleet landed the soldiers at the month of the 
Patapsco Kiver, and sailed njj stream toward the town. 
The men marched np the river for five miles. They met 
a force of American militia, and there w^as a sharp fight 
for two or three honrs ; then the Americans retreated. 
" There will be no great trouble in taking the town in 
the morning," thought the leader; ^ and we will camp 
here to-night." When morning came, he found that, 
however it might be about taking the town, he would 
have some trouble in getting to it; for the Americans 
had dug ditches, and dragged heavy logs across the 
road. It took the whole day to get in sight of the place ; 
and then they found it anything but an agreeable sight, 
for all along the hills above the city was a heavy line 
of entrenchments. There seemed to be plenty of men 
behind the entrenchments, and the British concluded 
that they would not take possession of their winter 
quarters at once. They thought it would be pleasanter 
to Avait at least until af tei- dark, when they Avould not be 
so plainly seen from the forts. " The cannon on our 
ships will surely silence Fort McHenry and the other 
forts and l)atteries by that time," they said. 

While the soldiers were stumbling over logs and roll- 
ing into hidden ditches, the cannon on the British ships 
were firing as fast as possible. The river was so shallow 
that the men-of-war could not get within range of the 
town. " We will bombard the forts," they said. " They 



234 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

will yield in a few hours, and then our troops can march 
up and take the city." For twenty-four hours the ter- 
rific bombardment went on. 

" If Fort McHenry only stands, the city is safe," said 
Francis Scott Key to a friend, and they gazed anxiously 
through the smoke to see if the flag was still flying. 

These two men were in 'the strangest place that could 
be imagined. They were in a little American vessel fast 
moored to the side of the British admiral's flag-ship. A 
Maryland doctor had been seized as a prisoner by the 
British, and the President had given permission for 
them to go out under a flag of truce to ask for his 
release. The British commander finally decided that the 
prisoner might be set free; but he had no idea of allow- 
ing the two men to go back to the city and carry any 
information. " Until the attack on Baltimore is ended, 
you and your boat must remain here," he said. 

The firing went on. As long as the daylight lasted, 
they could catch glimpses of the stars and stripes when- 
ever the wind swayed the clouds of smoke. When night 
came they could still see the banner now and then by 
the blaze of the cannon. A little after midnight the 
firing stopjDed. The two men paced up and down the 
deck, straining their eyes to see if the flag was still 
flying. "Can the fort have surrendered?" they ques- 
tioned. " Oh, if morning would only come ! " 

At last the faint gray of dawn appeared. They could 



THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER 235 

see that some flag was flying, but it was too dark to tell 
which. More and more eagerly they gazed. It grew 
lighter, a sudden breath of wind caught the flag; and it 
floated out on the breeze. It was no English flag, it was 
their own stars and stripes. The fort had stood, the city 
was safe. Then it was that Key took from his pocket 
an old letter and on the back of it he wrote the poem, 
" The Star-Spangled Banner." The British departed, 
and the httle American boat went back to the city. Mr. 
Key gave a copy of the poem to his uncle, who had 
been helping to defend the fort. The uncle sent it to a 
printer, and had it struck off on some handbills. Before 
the ink was dry the printer caught up one and hurried 
away to a restaurant, where many patriots were assem- 
bled. Waving the paper, he cried, " Listen to this ! " 
and he read: — 

" O say, can you see by the dawn's early light, 

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, 

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, 
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming? 

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting m air, 

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. 
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ? " 

" Sing it ! sing it ! " cried the whole company. Charles 
Durang mounted a chair, and then for the first time 
" The Star-Spangled Banner " was smig. The tune was 



236 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

" To Anacreon in Heaven," an air which had long been 
a favorite. The song was caught np at once. Halls, 
theatres, and private houses rang with its strains. 

The fleet was out of sight even before the poem was 
printed. In the middle of the night the admiral had 
sent to the British soldiers the message, " I can do no- 
thing more," and they had hurried on board the vessels. 
It was not long before they left Chesapeake Bay alto- 
gether, — perhaps with the new song ringing in their 
ears as they went. 

OUTLINE 

A British fleet in Chesapeake Bay — alarm in Annapohs — plans 
of General Ross — the soldiers land — a sharp fight — British 
plans for the following morning — marching to Annapolis — why 
the attack was delayed — bombarding the forts — Key watches 
Fort McIIenry — where he and his friend were — their anxiety 
through the night — what they saw " by the dawn's early light " 
— "The Star- Spangled Banner" — when it was first sung — de- 
parture of the fleet. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

The alarm of the people of Annapolis at the coming of the Brit- 
ish. 
When "The Star-Spangled Banner " was written. 
The first singing of the song. 



DAVID CROCKETT 237 

DAYID CROCKETT 

THE TENNESSEE PIONEER 

A FEW years before the War of 1812, there was a 
very homesick little boy in Yirginia. His home 
was only a hut of logs in the wilderness of eastern Ten- 
nessee, but the one thing that he wanted most was to 
see it again. His father had hired him to a drover to 
help drive some cattle a journey of foui* hundred miles. 
No plan was made for his return, but the twelve-year- 
old boy made one for himself. He soon found that the 
only means of getting away from the drover was to run 
away. One stormy night he tramped seven miles through 
the snow to join a man who was going toward his home; 
but the man went so slowly that the impatient boy pushed 
on ahead and made much of the long journey alone. 

This was the beginning of his adventures. From 
that time until he was fifteen he drove cattle, did farm 
work, and contrived somehow to get enough money to- 
gether to buy a rifle. When he was fifteen he concluded 
that he ought to know something of books ; so he began 
to go to school four days in the week, working two days 
for his board. In six months he learned to read a little, 
to write his name, and to do easy examples in addition, 
subtraction, division, and multiplication; and that was 
all the '' schooling " that he ever had. When he was 



238 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

eighteen his property consisted of a suit of coarse 
homespun, a rifle, and a horse that he had not paid for. 
The next thing that he did was to get a wife ; but it did 




THE MARRIAGE OF DAA^ID CROCKETT 



not seem to occur to him until after the wedding that he 
had no home for the pretty httle girl of seventeen who 
had married him. They looked about them, found a log 



DAVID CROCKETT 239 

cabin that some one had left, and moved in. The bride's 
parents gave them two cows and two calves. A man for 
whom David had worked lent them fifteen dollars with 
which to fm'nish their house. 

One day, three or four years later, David said to his 
wife, " Let us go to western Tennessee. The land here 
is all taken up, but there we can have four hundred 
acres if we build a house and plant some corn." The 
little wife was willing to go wherever her husband 
wished and they set out. She and her two little boys 
rode on the horse. The furs that they used for bedding, 
their few dishes, and their spinning wheel were put 
upon the backs of David's two colts; and so the family 
made a journey of two hundred and fifty miles through 
the wilderness. Then David built a log house, made a 
table and some three-legged stools, drove some pegs 
into the walls to hang their clothes on, if they happened 
to have any that they were not wearing, and they were 
at home. David was a remarkably good marksman, 
and they had plenty of venison and wild turkey. There 
was a stream at hand that was full of fish. N^o one need 
starve in such a place. 

But David was restless. In two years he moved 
again. Then came the War of 1812. There was trouble 
with the Indians in Alabama, and he volunteered as a 
soldier. The Indians wished to be friendly, but some 
rascally w^hite men had been stealing from them and had 



240 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

even shot some of them. At hist the Indians began to 
pay back. They made an attack npon a fort and killed 
almost every one in it. The whole region was aroused. 
" I am going to help fight the Indians," said David to 
his wife. 

" But what can we do if they come npon us ? " she 
exclaimed. " We are hundreds of miles from my friends. 
If anything should happen to you, we should starve." 

So she pleaded, but David replied, '' I ought to go. 
I owe it to my country. Moreover, if we do not punish 
them, they will kill us all." And away he went. 

So it was that he became a soldier. He was a great 
favorite, and no w onder, for he was not only a daring 
fighter but a good hunter. After a little wdiile the of- 
ficers said one to another, " We may as well let Crockett 
do what he pleases, he always comes out I'ight." So 
after that this independent soldier did just what he 
chose. He Avould slip away from the line of march and 
come back, perhaps with a turkey that he had shot. 
Even a squirrel was welcome in those hungry days, and 
whatever David had he was ready to share. T^o one 
could hel]) liking him, for he was so generous and so 
full of fun. Wherever he went there were good times. 

David was a strong man, but there came a time when 
he suddenly became very ill many miles from camp. 
As he lay under a tree, some Indians came that way. 
They stopped and looked at him. He had powder and 



DAVID CROCKETT 



241 



bullets and a rifle, the three things that they cared for 
most; but, instead of taking them and walking off, they 
said by signs, " Sick ? Eat this; " and they held a piece 




CKOCKi-rrr <.>n the march 



of melon to his lips. He felt so badly that he could not 
eat even that. Then one of them said, " You will die 
and be buried if you do not eat." Another said, " Come, 
I will go with you and carry your gun ; " and they all 
went with him to the nearest house, a mile and a half 
away. 

He was sick for several weeks, but at last he found 
his way home. A little later his wife and the youngest 
child wxre again on horseback, for now David was go- 



242 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

ing to southern Tennessee. Other settlers came there, 
some thieves among them. "We must have a justice of 
the peace," the settlers declared. " Let 's take Crockett." 
So the hunter became a magistrate. He had never read 
a page of a law book, but he had a good deal of common 
sense, and he did just what he thought was fair. When 
a man was accused of stealing anything, this new justice 
would say, " Catch that fellow and bring him up for 
trial." Then if he proved to be the thief, Crockett 
would order, " Tie him up and give him a whipping." 
By and by Crockett was made a magistrate by law, and 
now he was in trouble ; for he was told that his warrant 
for arresting men must be in what he called " real writ- 
ing," and he could hardly scribble his own name. He 
got over this difficulty by saying to the constable, 
" Whenever you see that a warrant is necessary, you 
need n't come all the way to me. Just fill one out, and 
if it is n't right, I'll change it." Then the justice went 
to work, and before long he could not only write a war- 
rant but keep his record book. 

But he was growing restless again, and soon he made 
another move. This time he built his cabin seven miles 
from the nearest neighbor. To this lonely place a man 
came one day and showed him a newspaper. It said that 
Crockett was a candidate for the legislature. " They 
mean that for a joke on me," said Crockett, " but I '11 
make them pay for it." So he set out to persuade people 



DAVID CROCKETT 243 

that he was the one they wanted to help make their laws ; 
and when the time came to vote, David Crockett was 
elected. 

By and by the backwoodsman and two well educated 
men were nominated for Congress. At a meeting 
Crockett spoke first and then was followed by the other 
two. They tried to answer each other, but said not a 
word about Crockett. One of these had been much an- 
noyed while making his speech by some guinea hens, 
and at last had asked to have them driven away. As 
soon as he stopped speaking, Crockett called out, " Gen- 
eral, you had not the politeness to allude to me in your 
speech. But when my little friends, the guinea hens, 
came ujd and began to holler, ' Crockett, Crockett, 
Crockett,' you were ungenerous enough to drive them 
all away." This raised a laugh. AVhen the time came 
to vote, Crockett was elected; and later he set out in 
the old stagecoach for Washington. 

IS^ow David Crockett could write, but he had learned 
little more from books. He had, however, learned a 
good deal from people. He said before he went to the 
legislature, " If any one had come along and told me 
he was ' the government,' I should have believed him." 
But he had kept his ears open, he had asked questions, 
and, best of all, he had done a great amount of thinking, 
and had his own opinion on all questions of the day. 
General Jackson was the " big man" of his party, and 



244 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

Crockett voted for whatever bills he proposed mitil 
one was brought forward that he did not think just. He 
voted against that one. After his term in Congress was 
over, he made a little speech, explaining why he had not 
followed the general. " Gentlemen," he said, " there 
was once a boy whose master told him to plow across 
the field to a red cow. Well, he began to plow and she 
began to walk; and he plowed all the forenoon after 
her. When the master came, he swore at him for going 
so crooked. ' Why, sir,' said the boy, ' you told me to 
plow to the red cow, and I ke|3t after her, but she al- 
ways kept moving.' " 

People liked Crockett not only because he could tell 
funny stories and make them all laugh, but because he 
was so honest and truthful and brave ; because he had 
so much common sense and w^as so reasonable ; and be- 
cause he was so kind and friendly and generous to 
every one. He was petted and praised wherever he 
went. Presents were given him, he was invited to din- 
ners and treated with the utmost honor. Crowds came 
together to hear him speak, and he was always cheered 
and applauded. 

But now a great disappointment came to the congress- 
man. He had expected to be elected again, and j^erhaps 
some day to be made President; but the people who 
voted for him in the first place were friends of General 
Jackson, and they would not elect any one who was 



DAVID CROCKETT 245 

against him. Crockett had seen his last days in Congress. 
He went home and wrote, " Here, like the wearied bird, 
let me settle down for awhile, and shut out the world." 
But he was soon uneasy and restless. War was going 
on with Mexico, and he mounted his horse and rode 
away to help carry it on. He fought furiously, but 
finally was taken prisoner. The Mexican President had 
ordered that all prisoners should be put to death, so 
David Crockett never returned to the little log house in 
the Tennessee wilderness. 

OUTLINE 

The first adventure of David Crockett — his next three years — 
his sliort scliool life — his property at eighteen — his marriage and 
liome — plans to go to western Tennessee — the journey — the 
new home — trouble with the Indians — he becomes a soldier — 
his independence — kindness of the Indians when he was ill — 
he becomes a magistrate — how he treated thieves — his plan to 
avoid writing — he becomes a candidate for the legislature and is 
elected — Crockett and the guinea hens — Avhat he learned — his 
story of the red cow — why people liked him — why he was not 
reelected — he fights in Mexico — is put to death. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

How David ran away. 

The home of the Crocketts in western Tennessee. 

The friendly Indians. 



246 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

CHRISTOPHER CARSOT^ 

TRAPPER AND GUIDE 

WHILE the War of 1812 was going on, a family 
in Missouri were aroused one night by a hght 
knock at the door, and a hoarse whisper, " Lidians ! " 
The father of the family caught up his gun, the mother 
dressed the children as well as she could in the darkness, 
and the whole family hurried to the log fort. 

Kit Carson was one of these children, and this scene 
was among the earliest of his memories. It was an excit- 
ing life for a little boy, and he must have felt that his 
days were dull enough when his father apprenticed 
him to a saddler and hour after hour he had to sit and 
stitch on saddles and harnesses. He did his work well, 
but two years later, when he was eighteen, he had a 
chance to do something that he liked much better. A 
company were going to carry goods from eastern Mis- 
souri to the Spanish town of Santa Fe, and he went 
with them. He did not return with them, however, but 
pushed on farther into the momitains. When he was 
hungry, he shot a bird or a squirrel or a turkey or, per- 
haps, a deer. When night came, he made a little shel- 
ter of bark and boughs. In the mountains he chanced to 
meet a hunter who had built himself a hut and meant to 
spend the winter. Kit agreed to stay with him. With 



CHRISTOPHER CARSON 247 

plenty of furs and wood, they were sure of being'warm ; 
and with their rifles there was no trouble about keeping 
the table well supplied. He studied Spanish with his 
new friend, and studied 
so hard that when spring 
came he could speak the 
language with ease. 

In the spring Kit 
started to go home, but 
on the way he met some 
traders. When they 
found that he had been 
over the trail twice, they / 
asked, " Will you turn 
back and be our guide ? " 
The next question was, 
" Can you speak Span- 
ish y " Kit answered 
yes to both questions, 
and they offered him large pay if he would go with 
them not only as guide but as interpreter. This was 
just what he wanted to do, so back he went to Santa Fe. 

His next business was hunting and trapping. He 
would start off for a month or more with a horse to ride 
and a mule to carry the luggage. He wore trousers and 
hunting shirt, or tunic, of deerskin, often cut into fringe 
at the bottom and ornamented with embroidery of por- 




CHRISTOPHER CAKSON 



248 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

cupine quills. On his feet were thick moccasins. Of 
course he had a rifle, plenty of powder and bullets, and 
a sharp knife stuck into a sheath at his belt. The mule 
carried more ammunition, a blanket or two, iron traps, 
and an extra knife and hatchet. Carson was in search of 
beaver, and when he saw their dams in a stream he chose 
some place near for his camp. To make his house he 
drove two strong stakes into the ground and two shorter 
ones back of them. On top of these stakes he laid 
boughs and bark for a roof. The walls were also made 
of bark. In half a day he could build this shed, open on 
one side. His bed was a fur robe or a blanket spread 
upon hemlock branches. There was plenty to eat in the 
stream and the forest, so when the house was built he 
set his beaver traps. Every morning he went to examine 
them. He skinned the beavers that had been caught, 
stretched the skins out to dry, and when he had as many 
skins as his mule could carry, he went back to the set- 
tlement and sold them. 

For several years he lived as ti'apper and guide. He 
had all sorts of adventures. Once when he was alone in 
the woods he shot an elk, but before he could load his 
gun again he heard angry growls behind him. They 
came from two big grizzly bears that were rushing to- 
ward him. Of course he ran for a tree, and swung him- 
self up among the branches, but only a moment before 
one bear struck a fierce blow with his paw. Unluckily, 



CHRISTOPHER CARSON 



249 



grizzly bears can climb 
trees, as Kit well knew; 
but these two waited a 
minute, as if deciding 
which should go first. 
In that minute the hunter 
had pulled out his sharp 
knife, cut off a stout 
bi'anch and made it into 
a cudgel. He knew that 
while a grizzly bear does 
not object seriously to be- 
ing peppered with shot, 
he is very sensitive to 
even a scratch on the 
end of his nose. There- 
fore, when the first bear 
began to climb. Kit Car- 
son gave him a tremen- 
dous blow right on his 
sensitive nose. The bear 
dropped to the ground 
howling and roaring. 
The other one tried it, 
but in a minute he, too, 
was howling with the 
pain in the end of his precious nose. They glared up 




CAKSON TREED BY A BEAR 



250 AMERICAN HERO STOKIES 

into the tree at the man with the cudgel. They growled 
at him, they snarled, and they roared; but neither of 
them cared to meet the stick again. At last they con- 
cluded that they would have to get their dinner some- 
where else, so they trotted away together, still growling 
and occasionally looking back over their shoulders. 

There was always danger from Indians. Kit Carson 
treated them fairly and kindly, but there were many 
other men who stole from them and shot them as if 
they were wild beasts. The Indians looked upon all 
white men as belonging to one tribe, and, therefore, if 
a white man had injured them, they thought it was only 
justice to punish any other white man whom they could 
catch. When the hmiters made a camp, they had to 
keep close guard or their horses would be stolen. Once, 
when Kit Carson was with a party of hunters, they 
found one morning that the Indians had crept up in 
the night and carried away eighteen horses. Carson 
and eleven other men galloped after them, and at the 
end of a fifty-mile ride came upon them. It was noon, 
and the Indians had stopped to rest the animals. When 
they saw the white men, one Indian came toward them 
unarmed. That meant, " I want to talk with you." Kit 
Carson, also unarmed, went toward the Indian, and this 
meant, " I am ready to listen." The Indian said, " We 
never thought those horses were yours; we supposed 
they belonged to the Snake Indians, our enemies. The 



CHRISTOPHER CARSOX 251 

white men are our friends, and we should not think of 
injuring them." Xot a word did they say about giving 
back the horses. 

"WTien they were through speaking. Kit Carson said, 
*• I am glad that you are oui- friends. We are willing to 
forcnve the mistake. We will take our horses and go 
away.*' But no horses were brought. He insisted, and 
at length they brought five of the poorest that they had 
stolen. " That is all.'' they said. ** We will bring no 
more." Then both parties seized their rifles, and every 
man tried to get behind a tree. There was a long fight, 
but at last the Indians fled. All the red men who knew 
Carson liked him. and often, instead of shooting them 
or trying to keep them from shooting him, he acted as 
peacemaker among them. It happened once that the 
Sioux had been hunting on the land of the Comanches, 
and the two tribes had fought several battles. The chief 
of the Comanches sent to Carson and said. "* Will you 
not come to help us and lead us against the Sioux ? " 
Carson went to them, but, instead of leading them 
to war. he persuaded the Sioux to leave the hunting 
-ground of the Comanches. and there was no more fight- 
ing. 

After sixteen years of such life, he went back to his 
old home in Missouri ; but many of his friends were dead 
and the place was so changed that he soon left it and 
started to return to the west. On the steamboat going 



252 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

up the Missouri, he met Lieutenant John C. Fremont, 
whom the government had sent to explore the country 
west of Missouri. His guide had failed him, and he was 
glad to engage Carson. 

Then Carson became a messenger. He went alone 
for three or four hundred miles, although he knew that 
the Indians were angry with the whites, and would be 
likely to kill even him if they could catch him. He went 
on two other expeditions with Fremont, and twice made 
the long journey to Washington with lettei's from him 
to the President. It must have seemed very strange to 
the hunter to be the guest of honor at dimiers and re- 
ceptions and to meet all the " great folk " of Washing- 
ton and St. Louis; but he was so gentle and courteous 
that every one liked him, and he was so simple and sin- 
cere and so forgetful of himself that he could not be 
awkward. 

After- Carson went back to Santa Fe, he bought a 
large farm, or ranch, in New Mexico, and there he lived 
with his wife, a Mexican lady, and their children. He 
did other things besides managing his ranch. Once he 
spent many weeks driving a flock of more than six thou- 
sand sheep from his home to California. He could not 
have done this if he had not known so well in which 
direction to go and just where to find water and good 
pasture. Once he brought together eighteen of his old 
friends, and they went off on a trapping excursion up 



CHRISTOPHER CARSON 253 

the South Platte River. They had not lost their skill, 
and they came back with a great quantity of furs. 

The government appointed Carson Indian agent, and 
no better man could have been found. Almost all the 
tribes knew him, and called him " Father Kit." The 
good ones loved him, but the bad ones were much 
afraid of him; for if they attacked the white men, he 
was sure to punish them. Sometimes when he heard 
that the Indians were planning a war, he went straight 
to their encampment and talked with them as if they 
had been his children. " You have hundreds of war- 
riors," he would say, " but the Great Father in Wash- 
ington has thousands. You will kill some of his soldiers, 
but he has plenty more to call out, and in the end they 
will kill all your warriors. Why do you make him fight 
you? He does not want to fight. He wants to help 
you, and to have you help him." The Indians would 
almost always yield; and if all the white people had 
treated them as fairly and reasonably as did Kit Carson, 
there would have been few Indian wars. 

]S^ot long before Carson's death the story of his life 
was written, and the book was read to him. His doctor 
said afterwards: " It was wonderful to read of the stir- 
ring scenes, thrilling deeds, and narroAv escapes, and 
then look at the quiet, modest, retiring, but dignified 
.little man who had done so much. . . . He w^as one of 
nature's noblemen, pure, honorable, truthful, sincere.'' 



254 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

OUTLINE 

Carson's early memories — he is apprenticed to a saddler — he 
goes to Santa Fe — spends the winter in the wilderness — learns 
Spanish — he becomes a guide and interpreter — his hunter's 
dress and outfit — building his house — catching beavers — his 
adventure with the bears — why there was danger from Indians 
— he pursues the horse-thieves — he acts as peacemaker among 
the Indians — his return to Missouri — he meets Fremont and 
aids in his explorations — he is honored in Washington and St. 
Louis — buys a ranch in New Mexico — his journey with the 
sheep — his last beaver hunt — he becomes Indian agent — he 
hears the story of his life. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

What was Carson thinking of while he stitched on saddles ? 

Carson's life when on a beaver hunt. 

The bears' story of their meeting with Carson. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLIS^ 

PIONEER AND PRESIDENT 

OlSTCE upon a time a family of settlers named Lin- 
coln lived in a log house in Indiana. It was hardly 
more than a shed, for it had neither floor nor windows. 
It had a doorway, bnt the only door was a curtain of 
bear-skins. There was one boy in the family, a little 
fellow of seven years named Abraham. " My son is 
going to have an education," the father used to say. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 255 

" He is going to cipher clear threugh the arithmetic." 
The boy went to school for a little while, and learned to 
read and write. His mother taught him what she could. 
Among other things she told him about the War of 1812, 
that had just come to an end, and about the hardships 







^^^^^^v ^i^EZ 





THE BOYHOOD OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

of the soldiers. " Everybody ought to l3e good to the 
soldiers," she used to say. The child listened gravely, 
and one day, when he had been fishing, he came home 
empty handed because he had given his string of fish to 
a soldier whom he met on the road. 

When he was only eight years old his mother died, 
and then the house was lonely indeed. After a time his 



256 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

father married again. The stepmother loved the little 
boy, and did all she could to help him. He went to 
school only six months in his life, but he borrowed 
every book that he heard of in the country for fifty 
miles around. He used to read them aloud to his step- 
mother, and talk over with her what he did not under- 
stand. He was not quick to learn, but he never gave up 
a sentence until he had found out what it meant. Some 
of these books were Rohinson Crusoe, Pilgrim\s Pro- 
gress, u^soji's Fables, the Bible, a life of Washington, 
and a history of the United States. One other book was 
a copy of the Statutes of Indiana. He read these laws 
over and over again until he knew almost the whole 
volume by heart. In this book wei-e also the Declaration 
of Independence and the Constitution of the United 
States. He made himself some ink of roots, and cut a 
turkey quill into a pen. For paper he used a shingle. 
Then, when he was going to work in the field, he wrote 
a paragraph from the l:)ook on the wood, and whenever 
he stopped a minute to rest, he pulled out his shingle 
and read a little to think over when he was working. 

"I should like to be a lawyer," he said to himself; 
but even when he was twenty-one it did not seem as if 
he would ever be able to carry out his wish. Indeed, 
he himself thought that it might be a good thing for 
him to become a blacksmith, because he was so tall — 
six feet and four inches — and so strong. His father 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 257 

needed help, however, for he was just moving to a new 
farm in lUinois, and there was much for them both to 
do. After building a new log house, the next thing 
was to cut down some of the tall walnut-trees and split 
them into rails for a fence. How Abraham Lincoln 




THE EARLY HOME OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

would have opened his eyes if some one had whispered 
what those rails would be used for thirty years later ! 

The next thing that the young man did was to help 
a man build a flatboat and float a load of goods down 
the Mississippi to ^N'ew Orleans. On their return, he 
" hired out " to work in this man's store, but in a year 
the store was closed. Just at that time the Black Hawk 
Indian War broke out, and Lincoln volunteered. The 



258 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

men of his company chose him captain, and he was mnch 
pleased, though he had little notion how to drill them. 
He always had his wits about him, however, and could 
generally find a way out of his difficulties. One day his 
company were marching across a field four abreast 
when they came to a gate. The new captain had not 
the slightest idea what command to give to get them 
into single file so they could go through, or, as he 
put it, to get them " through the gate endwise ; " so he 
shouted, "The company is dismissed for two minutes, 
when it will fall in again on the other side of the gate." 
The war lasted only a few months. Then Lincoln 
and another young man bought out the village store. 
]VIany stories are told of Lincoln as a storekeeper. 
One is that by mistake he charged a man sixpence too 
much and that very night walked three miles to the 
man's house to return the money. He did other things 
than tie up sugar and tea, for the village schoolmaster 
had become his friend and was lending him books, hear- 
ing him recite, and correcting his compositions. Lin- 
coln's partner was careless, and Lincoln himself was 
perhaps too much interested in study to watch him 
closely. The result was that the business failed. Then 
Lincoln said to his creditors, " I mean to j^ay that money, 
and if you will trust me, I will give you every cent that 
I earn above what is enough to live on." He owed 
eleven hundred dollars. He used to speak of it as the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 259 

" I^ational Debt." Finally he paid every penny of it, and 
that was why his neighbors called him " Honest Abe." 

Keeping store was bad for his pocketbook, but some- 
thing happened one day when he was behind the counter 
that was very good for him. A man who was moving 
west with his family drove up and said, " Look here, 
this barrel 's in the way. I 've no room in the wagon 
for it, and there 's nothing of much value in it. I '11 sell 
' it for half a dollar. Will you buy it? " 

To oblige the man, Lincoln bought the barrel, rolled 
it out of the way, and forgot all about it. Some time 
afterwards, he came upon it, knocked the head off, and 
turned it over to see what was in it. At the very 
bottom were Blackstone's Com'me7itaries, famous law 
books. Lincoln oj^ened the volumes and began to read. 
" The more I read, the more interested I became," he 
said. He determined not to be a blacksmith or a store- 
keeper or anything else but a lawyer; and after much 
hard work a lawyer he became. His studying did not 
stop then by any means, for he gave a certain number 
of hours every day to the studies that he would have 
taken up had he been in college. He worked hard on 
his cases, too. He went over the case in his OAvn mind, 
thinking over all the reasons for believing that his client 
was in the right. Then he tried to think of everything 
that the opposing lawyer could say to show the man in 
the wrong and of what he himself could say in reply. 



260 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

In one famous case of which he had charge, he defended 
an old neighbor who was accused of murder. One wit- 
ness after another said, " I saw him commit the murder." 

" What time was it? " Lincohi asked quietly. 

" About eleven," they answered. 

" How could you see so clearly at eleven o'clock at 
night? " he demanded. 

" The moon was shining," they said. 

" Just where was the moon and how large was it? " 
he asked. They told him its size and in what part of the 
sky it was. 

Then Lincoln pulled an almanac out of his pocket and 
said to the court, " This is all the defense I have. This 
almanac declares that there was no moon on the night 
of the murder." The witnesses had made up their story 
together, but had forgotten to see whether it agreed 
with the moon. The man was declared to be inno- 
cent. 

Lincoln had been made a member of the state legisla- 
ture and had been a congressman. In 1860 a meeting 
was held to nominate a Republican candidate for the 
presidency of the United States, and Lincoln was 
chosen. Of course there were all sorts of emblems and 
decorations used in the campaign, but the one that peo- 
ple looked at most was two weather-beaten fence rails 
trimmed with flowers and streamers and lighted tapers. 
Over them was a banner which said they were two of 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



261 



the rails cut by Abraham Lhicohi thirty years before. 
When he was asked about them, he repHed, " I don't 
know whether we made those rails or not; fact is, I 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



don't think they are a credit to the maker; but I loiow 
this, — I made rails then, and I think I could make better 
ones than these now." 



262 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

Lincoln became President, but there must have been 
many days during the five years following when he 
wished he had no harder work than splitting rails, for 
the Civil War broke out. The President is command- 
er-in-chief of the army; and Lincoln set to work to 
study how to carry on war. He used every spare minute 
to read about the subject. Then he called the military 
committees of Congress together and laid before them 
the plan that he had made. They did not follow it, but 
to-day people who are wise in warfare say that if it had 
been followed the war would have ended much sooner. 
One of his generals was so insolent that the members 
of the Cabinet were angry and indignant; but even then 
Lincoln did not lose his patience. " ^ever mind," he 
said, " I will hold his horse for him if he will only bring 
us success." 

Every day crowds of people came to see the President, 
and almost every one wanted some favor. One wanted 
to be postmaster somewhere, another wanted promotion 
in the army, and many came to plead that he would par- 
don some soldier who was condemned to die for desert- 
ing or sleeping at his post. It is no wonder that the 
weary President said to his secretary, " I wish George 
Washington or some other old patriot were here to take 
my place for a while, so that I could have a little rest." 
Tired as he was, he would not send people away. Even 
when a man persisted in reading him a long, wearisome 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 263 

paper, he did not refuse to listen. " What do you think 
of it ? " the author demanded. " Well, for those who like 
that sort of thing," replied the tired man, "I should 
think it is just about the sort of thing they would 
like." 

It was almost impossible for him to refuse to pardon 
a soldier. Perhaps he remembered that his mother had 
said to him when he was a little boy, " Everybody ought 
to be good to the soldiers." The generals objected. 
They begged him not to interfere, but still the Presi- 
dent could not help writing pardons. " It rests me after 
a hard day's work," he said, " if I can find some good 
cause for saving a man's life ; and I go to bed happy as 
I think how joyous the signing of my name will make 
him and his family and his friends." 

One day an old man came to plead for the life of his 
son, a soldier who had been sentenced to death. " I am 
sorry I can do nothing for you," said the President, " but 
the crime is unpardonable. Hear what General Butler 
telegraphed me yesterday." And he read, " President 
Lincoln, I pray you not to interfere with the courts- 
martial of the army. You will destroy all discipline 
among our soldiers." Then the old man was hopeless, 
and he broke down completely. Lincoln could not bear 
to see his sorrow. Suddenly he burst out, " Butler or 
no Butler, here goes ! " and he wrote that the boy was 
not to be shot without further orders from the Presi- 



264 AMERICAN HERO STORIES 

dent. " There," he said, " if your son never dies till 
orders come from me to shoot him, he will live to be a 
great deal older than Methuselah." 

At last the war came to an end, but only a few days 
after its close the President was assassinated. The 
poet, Walt Whitman, expressed his own grief and 
that of millions of others in his poem, " My Captain." 
In this the " Captain " is Pi*esident Lincoln, the " ship " 
is the Union, and the " voyage " is the cruel war that had 
just come to an end. 

" The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, 
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won ; 
Exult O shores, and ring O bells ! 
But I with mournful tread, 

Walk the deck my Captain lies. 
Fallen cold and dead." 

OUTLINE 

Lincoln's early home — his father's plans for him — his mother's 
teachings — his stepmother's aid — what he read — how he studied- 
in the field — his plans for the future — he splits rails — visits 
New Orleans — works in a store — becomes a soldier — how he 
managed a drill — his life as a storekeeper — the "National Debt" 
— how he decided to become a lawyer —his studying — how he 
prepared his cases — defending a neighbor — the exhibition of the 
fence-rails — Lincoln becomes President — how he made plans to 
carry on the war — his patience with an insolent general — his tire- 
some visitors — his pardons for soldiers— the assassination of the 
President — Walt Whitman's poem. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 265 

SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK 

The boy Abraham Lmcoln gives his fish to the soldier. 
The fence-rails tell the story of their lives. 
The old man whose sou Lincoln pardoned tells his wife about 
the President. 



Electrotyped and pririted by H . O. Houghton <V Co. 
Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. 



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n^i 



